Under Pressure
by BrokenFirePen
Summary: New couple, Puck and Quinn, struggle to keep their relationship stable through friend troubles, family problems, and baby issues, but with a hormonal teenager carrying around a bowling ball in her stomach, it's hard to keep it together. Will the drama around them help them become closer, or tear them apart? (Previously Total Eclipse of the Heart, changed due to plot switch)
1. Chapter 1

**A bit of an explanation, I think is called for. The original Total Eclipse of the Heart was supposed to be a Rachel/Jesse centric fic, and quickly turned into one about Puck and Quinn, so I decided that I would move all the Puck and Quinn chapters out, and create a story based on just them, which is why this story has been retitled Under Pressure. **

** Total Eclipse of the Heart is still a story, I have created a new one, where I am posting all the Rachel/Jesse chapters that have been written, and will still be. The stories share some chapters, because there are moments when the stories collide with each other. If it's confusing at all, I'm sorry. You are welcome to unfollow this story o=if you do not want to read a story about Puck and Quinn. You can keep following it if you wish. You may also follow the other, official Total Eclipse of the Heart that I added if Rachel/Jesse are what you're looking for. **

** I'm sorry about all this, guys, I really am. **

Quinn was sitting in her last block class, tracing small circles on her belly in the places the baby was kicking when her cell phone buzzed once in her backpack. Looking up from her desk, her eyes fell on the fat, old study teacher that was asleep at his desk, snoring softly as his students did the same. Quinn leaned down and pulled her phone out of her bag. _Kurt _was blinking on the screen as she selected the text message and read it.

**Rachel and Jesse broke up. –KH **

Snorting once because it was slightly funny as well as typical, Quinn typed back a quick, **So, why should I care? –Q **

Putting her phone down on the table, she continued to draw the small circles, humming the only lullaby she knew. When she started quietly whispering the lyrics, she could feel people staring at her, but she didn't care. Not anymore. "Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight. With lilies o'er spread in baby's wee bed."

Her phone buzzed again and she snatched it up, opening the message.

**Because Rachel's been nothing but nice to you. She deserves to have friends right now. She deserves to have friends in general. –KH **

Quinn looked at the text message for a long time, debating on whether or not she should respond. It took her a while to find the right thing to say. Quinn knew Kurt was right, and she had noticed him getting closer to Rachel these days. In fact, aside from the three boys who were no longer talking to her, the entire glee club had gotten closer to Rachel, except Santana of course, but she was an exception. Quinn was the only one left, and Kurt had a point. Rachel _had _been nothing but nice to her. Quinn had no reason to hate her. Other than jealousy.

But, no one should let that get in the way.

With a sigh, Quinn typed, **Ok, I'll meet you in the choir room… -Q **and excused herself from study, quietly tiptoeing from the room and shutting the door silently behind her. When she finally made it to the only place in the school she felt comfortable, Quinn saw Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina sitting in the blue chairs, waiting.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice wavering because this was an all knew experience for her. "Is she okay?"

"We don't know," Mercedes said, checking her phone as if Rachel was going to text her. "We saw her crying after Jesse walked away from her before fifth block started. We ditched our last block classes to see if she was alright."

Quinn nodded, holding her binder closely to her chest. "Oh, I see." She sat down in front of Kurt, placing them in her lap. "Are we gonna talk to her?"

Kurt looked at his phone. "She should be out by now. School is almost over." The three of them stood and looked at the blonde sitting in the chair. "Are you coming, or not?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," she said, standing up with them and walking out of the chorus room.

They found Rachel by her locker, carefully putting binders onto the shelf. Pausing for a moment to look at her, they advanced toward Rachel with determined looked on their faces. They stopped when they were right in front of her, crowding around her and staring at her.

"Hi?" she said, confused as to why they would be near her.

"What happened?" Kurt nearly shouted, his words acid and sleek. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "You weren't in drama!"

She sighed. "I was with Ms. Pillsbury."

"Doing what!?" Kurt was still hysterical.

Rachel sighed, turning the dial to her lock and facing the three girls, plus Kurt. "Do you guys wanna go get manicures or something?"

The five teenagers were sitting in comfortable arm chairs, their feet dangling in warm water. At the moment, Quinn and Rachel were having their toes painted, Mercedes and Tina were getting manicures while getting foot massages, and Kurt was getting his fingernails buffed and shinned.

"Rachel, this was a really good idea," Kurt said, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. "I needed a girl day."

"Yeah, girl, we should totally do this more often," Mercedes added, wiggling happily in her seat. Quinn and Tina 'Mm'ed in agreement.

"But why did you ask us to come? Don't you, like, not have friends?" Everyone shot Kurt angry looks.

"I needed a me day and Ms. Pillsbury said to invite friends; you guys are the closest things I've got and I'm pretty sure Jesse is probably with the boys, plus I wouldn't want to be with such Neanderthals anyway…" she said, trailing off at the end.

Quinn reached over and squeezed Rachel's hand; Rachel froze at the gesture. "Well, I'm glad you asked us to come with you. I haven't gotten a manicure or pedicure or anything day spa related since I was kicked off the Cherrios; I haven't had the need."

They all nodded in agreement, sighing at the same time. "You know, Rachel, I actually really liked the Run Joey, Run video you did." Rachel turned her head to looked at the blonde next to her. "I mean, sure it was a little bit unfair that you added Puck and Finn in there when you're dating Jesse-"

"Was dating Jesse," Rachel corrected solemnly.

"Oh, sorry," Quinn said quietly, looking around awkwardly. "Was dating Jesse, but I think they're all over reacting. It was just a video…" She trailed off, looking back to Rachel.

The small brunette smiled. "Thanks, Quinn," Rachel said, smiling at her brightly. "It's good to know there's someone who thinks differently than everyone else."

"I liked it," Kurt, Mercedes and Tina chorused, looking at Rachel from behind Quinn. Rachel laughed once, biting her lip. "It was… clever and a little bit comical at how bad it was…"

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, the shot where 'When he looked down, his hands were red,' was a little ridiculous, wasn't it?" They all nodded, smiling. Rachel took a breath, clenching her hands into nervous fists before asking her next question. "Hey, does anyone wanna come over tonight? My dads are gone for the week and I've got the house to myself." Everyone's eyes perked up.

"I know none of you have really liked me, but I think I could use some friends tonight. What do you think?"

"Hell yeah!" Mercedes said, answering for everyone and Rachel smiled.

**Okay, so that's the start. The chapters are going to be one right after the other because I don't want to have that whole waiting period thing, so, yeah. Off to edit some more chapters! **


	2. Chapter 2

Out of everyone, Quinn was the first to arrive at Rachel's house that evening. She was flustered and quite upset; Puck had given her a hard time about going over there.

_"Quinn, you can't go over there. I'm actually _forbidding _you to get in that car and drive to freaking Rachel Berry's house." _

_ She stared at the boy in front of her, crossing her arms over her chest and resting them on her baby bump. "And why is that?"_

_ "Because she's a liar and it's unfair." _

_ "You're a liar and you're unfair," Quinn shot back, going into the spare room to change into a pair of sweatpants and a giant t-shirt. "And besides, she needs her girls. Everyone needs to have their back up behind them, supporting them the whole time, I just so happen to be one of Rachel's." _

_ Puck sighed, letting his head fall against the door with a thud. "Yeah, but Quinn, she, like, manipulated us; she lied to us…" _

_ Quinn flung the door open, causing Puck to stumble slightly. "You lie all the time, Noah Puckerman." Puck gave Quinn a look with could make any girl swoon; the wide eyed, puppy dog look. "She needs support. She just lost her boyfriend, her best friend, and the person who throws Slushees in her face; it's been a pretty rough day for her." _

_ Puck let his head hang. "But she lied to us…" _

_ "Then you can go to your boys and have them cheer you up," Quinn said, getting tired of this 'We… Are the innocent ones,' act he had going. "Go use your fake IDs, buy beer, and get drunk than make the stupid decisions I know you're fond of making. Be the Noah Puckerman I know you are." _

_ She picked up her bag and started walking down the hall, heading toward the front door but Puck grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around. "It's not as easy as that, Quinn. What Rachel did… That was just… That was not right." _

_ Quinn's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Puck, you're such a hypocrite." His brow creased. "You lie to girls, then sleep with them, then lie again and you're getting upset about a music video, a music video of all things, that Rachel made, using the three best singers in the group?" Puck let his head hang and Quinn's arm itched to reach out and stroke his cheek. "Why do you even care this much anyway?" she said, her voice soft and alluring. _

_ "Because… Because…" Quinn's eyebrows were raised as she saw Puck struggle for his words. "Because, she said it was just going to be me, then she used Finn and the Jesse kid as well." _

_ "Gosh, Puck, if I didn't know you were completely set on a relationship with me, I'd think you were in love with her…" Quinn said, amused. _

_ Puck gave her a small smile. "I feel deceived." _

_ Quinn's eyes rolled for the millionth time today. "Don't we all," she mumbled, wrapping an arm around Puck's neck and giving him a hug. "Get over it, Puckerman." _

_ Puck laughed in her ear, kissing her cheek before allowing her to flounce out of the house and to her car. He was about to go into his game room to play Halo, when Quinn came back into the house, a shameful look on her face. "What's going on, Fabray?" _

_ "I can't fit into my car… Will you drive me?" _

_ Puck froze, his eyes glued to hers. "No way in hell am I driving you." _

_ "I can't fit behind the wheel!" Quinn shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. "Come on, Puck. Just drive me!" _

_ He shook his head. "No freaking way, Fabray. I'm not driving to her house." _

_ "It's not like you have to get out of the car," she said, huffing. "Come on, please?" _

_ She jutted out her bottom lip in a pout. Puck's mouth started to twitch as he tried not to cave. "Fine!" he snapped, grabbing his keys from the shelf near the door. "But I am _so _pissed at you, Quinn." _

_ She glared at him. "You're so immature!" she screamed, stomping out the door. Quinn climbed into his truck, slamming the door and crossing her arms over chest stubbornly. He climbed into the driver's side and turned the key, smiling to himself as the engine hummed to life. _

_ He gave her a cocky smile, his teeth flashing white at her in the setting sun. "I hate you," she mumbled, looking out the window. They began driving down the bumpy dirt road and Puck felt uncomfortable with the silence. He carefully slid his hand across the console to place it over her knee but she jerked away, glaring at him. _

_ "Don't. Touch. Me." _

_ Puck flinched away. "Damn, Quinn, what's with the hostility?" _

_ The blonde turned her head slowly to glare at him. "What?" she said darkly, her eyes turning almost black. He gave her a look that screamed 'You heard me.' "I cannot believe you, Puck. You are being so selfish! She just made a music video and you're acting like she was dating you, than slept with someone else. Not that that would be a problem; you do it all the time!" _

_ Puck's knuckles tightened around the steering wheel as he kept his anger inside, keeping himself from lashing out at her. "You're taking this too seriously," he whispered to her. _

_ Again, Quinn's jaw fell in shock. "Are you serious, Puck? _I'm _taking this too seriously?" Puck nodded. "You're pissed off at Rachel because she made a stupid music video and used you, Finn and Jesse. Get over yourself." _

_ Puck snorted. "Why are you being so defensive over her anyway, Quinn?" _

_ "I shouldn't have to tell you why, Puck. You should just know that girls stick together. We're the only thing she's got, she's the only thing I've got." _

_ Puck rolled his eyes. "Quinn, you don't even like Rachel; stop acting like you do." _

_ There was sudden silence in the car as Quinn iced Puck down with an acid stare. "Stop the truck," she hissed. _

_ He turned his head to look at her. "What?" Puck's voice was surprised and quiet. _

_ "Stop the truck," she said again, a little more annoyed then angry. He shook his head. _

_ "Nope." _

_ Quinn reached her hand over, grabbing his ear and digging her nail into it. "Noah Joseph Puckerman, you better stop this truck or I'll-" _

_ "You'll what?" he said, his voice slightly pained. "Rip off my ear?" He smirked at his wise ass answer. _

_ "Stop the fucking truck!" she screamed, opening the door before the wheels even stopped turning. Puck halted to a stop at her sudden, and scary, outburst and she hopped out of the car, supporting her baby bump with one arm as she hit the ground. Quinn grabbed her bag and flung it over her shoulder, slamming the door shut. "You're such a child," she growled at him before walking off the road and onto the side walk. _

_ Puck started to drive incredibly slow, keeping up with her motherly waddling. "Quinn, get back in the car," he called to her, rolling down the window so he could talk to her. She shook her head, keeping her eyes straight. "Come on, Quinn, seriously." _

_ "No!" she said, turning to face him, her hands placed on her hips. "You're so… Immature and self-centered. Can't you see that Rachel just wanted to be liked?" _

_ Puck's forehead creased as he stopped his truck, pulling onto the side of the road and climbing out. "What are you talking about?" he said, walking so close to her he had to tilt his whole chin down to look at her. _

_ Quinn sighed. "If she used just you, Finn would get jealous and Jesse would get jealous. She'd loose her boyfriend, best friend, and she'd only have you, but that wouldn't do her much good." Puck nodded, allowing her to go on. "If she used just Finn, you wouldn't care because you wouldn't have taken a part in it but Jesse would, again, get jealous and she'd loose her boyfriend. If she used Jesse, Finn would understand but he'd still be jealous she didn't use him even a little bit because they're friends and he loves her, so he'd drop her out of the picture. _

_ "Don't you see, Puck? If she used just one of you, she'd end up losing someone. Rachel thought the best solution was to use all three so things would be fair, but she just ended up with nothing. So, now, since all of you are being royal pricks, she's relying on us to keep her strong." _

_ Puck looked at the ground, digging his toe into the concrete. "And, don't say I don't care. I may not have taking a liking to Rachel, but when I got pregnant and I realized what it was like to be invisible, I started to see her side. That's why I'm sticking close to her, giving her support because I figure, if I give her support, she'll do the same for me. _

_ "And that's what girls need; support. So if you don't mind, I'd like to continue on to Rachel's house. Would you kindly move out of my way?" _

_ Puck didn't. Quinn, sighing, shoved past him and continued down the sidewalk. "Quinn, wait! I'll drive you to Rachel's house, just get in the truck!" _

_ She spun around, still walking. "Not until you truly see my side of the argument!" she called back, turning back around. _

_ She got no less than twenty feet before she hear Puck's truck come roaring up next to her. "Quinn Fabray, get in the car. Now." _

_ "You're not my father and I'm not listening to you." She took a deep breath. "You just don't get it Puck. Do you realize how stupid you're being? Getting upset over a music video. It's so… little and babyish." _

_ He turned a corner with her, running his hand over his Mohawk quickly. "I'm sorry, Quinn, just get in the car." _

_ Quinn was about to respond when a car behind Puck's truck honked it's horn, telling them to move faster. Puck jolted to a stop, sticking his head out the driver's window to look at the car behind him. "Shut the fuck up, you stupid Lexus!" he screamed, giving the driver an angry glare. "No one cares where you need to be. Just go around, lazy ass!" _

_ The car honked again but drove around the truck, flipping Puck off as it drove by. He nearly jumped out of his car and ran after the little hunk of metal, but he didn't. Instead, he just looked back to Quinn. "You were saying?" he said calmly and maturely. _

_ "I'll get back in the car when you apologize to Rachel." _

_ He made a face. "No freaking way, Fabray." _

_ "Than I'm not getting in the car," she said, walking again. _

_ This time, she got all the way to Rachel's house without Puck talking to her. Instead, he just drove slowly next to her the whole way. _

When Rachel opened her front door, Quinn dropped her bag on the floor and eloped Rachel in a hug, sobbing into the small brunette's shoulder.

**Kurt, Mercedes and Tina's reasoning's coming up soon. I hope you guys are okay with the big change! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, here's chapter three. I hope you like it if you haven't read it already. It's one of the same chapters from Total Eclipse. :) **

Out of everyone, Kurt and Mercedes were the second and third to arrive at Rachel house that evening. Like Quinn, they were frazzled, both equally as frazzled and annoyed.

_Mercedes and Kurt walked into this house so he could pack; they had already stopped by Mercedes' house and she was ready to go… Kurt on the other hand was a different story. _

_ "So, how amazing is my manicure?" Mercedes said, holding her hand out to him and he admired her pink, blue and silver sparkled nails. _

_ Kurt smiled, looking at her nails more closely. "They're fantastic, as always," he said, linking his arm around hers and walking around the corner. He stopped suddenly when he saw his father sitting in the living room, beer in hand, with the TV going. This, of course, wasn't such a shocking sight. What was shocking though, was the fact that sitting on the other end of the couch was Finn Hudson. _

_ "Hey, sport," Burt said, taking a sip from his beer. "Hello, Mercedes, good to see you again." _

_ The man stood up and gave Mercedes a small embrace. "Hello, Mr. Hummel. Nice to see you too." _

_ Kurt was still staring at Finn, his eyes wide. "Dad, what's he doing here?" Kurt said rudely, his eyes flashing to his father in disappointment. _

_ Burt looked over his shoulder at Finn who was lounging on the couch sadly, an IBC root beer bottle in his hand. "Oh, uh, the game was on… I know Finn likes football… And besides, Carole said that he needed a father figure to hang out with…" Kurt narrowed his eyes at his father. "Okay… Fine… He came over saying he was having some girl trouble and asked if he could talk about it…" _

_ Kurt and Mercedes' mouths fell open. "What?" his father said, running his hand over the back of his neck a few times. _

_ Kurt shook his head a few times. "Never mind. Cedes and I were just going down stairs to pack; a few of the girls and I are staying over Rachel Berry's house tonight…" Kurt said, flouncing toward the basement door with Mercedes following close behind. _

_ "Wait, say that again?" The two of them turned around to see Finn face them, his arms hanging over the back of the couch. _

_ Kurt gave him a confused look. "Um, some of the girls and I are sleeping over at Rachel's house?" _

_ "What the hell!" Finn shouted, shooting up from the couch. "Why?" _

_ Kurt was taken aback. "Finn, what is your problem?" Mercedes, though a tough girl, was cowering behind Kurt, scared at the look Finn was giving the two of them. "We're just going to sleep over. Have some girl time." _

_ Burt's eyes widened. "Kurt, son, you're not a girl." _

_ He gave his father a glare. "I know I'm not a girl!" he said, crossing his arms over his chest while his voice rose to a high offended tone. "But it's not like we need to worry about me scamming on them, so I thought it would be okay if I slept over, since there will be no troubles of boy/girl creeping!" _

_ Finn sputtered. "Why are you two going over there!? For a sleep over!" _

_ "Finn, relax, it's not like you need to be there. Why do you even care?" The tall boys stare was so deathly that Mercedes and Kurt flung his bedroom door and scampered down the steps to the basement. _

_ Mercedes' breath had picked up pace from fright and she paced a hand over her chest. "What is that boy's problem?" _

_ Kurt rolled his eyes, going to his closet for his giant overnight bag. "He's just… Emotional, I guess…" he said, opening it carefully on his bed and going to his dresser. Mercedes nodded as if to say, 'Oh, hell yeah,' just as Finn came thundering down the stairs. "Finn, what are you doing down here?" Kurt was bewildered and he started flitting around the room, trying to fix things and put them into his bag. _

_ "I'm down here to ask why you're going over to Rachel's house and for a sleep over, no less…" His voice was dark and almost threatening._

_ Mercedes, who wasn't as afraid anymore, sat down on Kurt's bed. "The girl needs some cheering up. She's been brought down low." _

_ Finn scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I should have guessed," he said, rolling his eyes furiously. "Of course you would side with her…" _

_ Kurt stood up straight from grabbing his pajamas out of the lowest drawer in his dresser. "Well, she kind of needs us, Finn. She doesn't really have any friends outside of glee…" Kurt trailed off, neatly folding the pajama pants and shirt into his bag. "And besides, you have your 'boys' to side with you," he said, bending his fingers in the air as finger quotations. "If we didn't side with Rachel, it would be unfair." _

_ Mercedes gave Kurt a sideways glare. "Hang on a minute boy," she said, sliding off the bed. "Are you saying you're only siding with Rachel because it would be unfair if you sided with Finn?" Mercedes pointed to the football player behind her. _

_ Kurt tsked his tongue once at her. "Cedes, you know I didn't mean it like that…" The dark girl crossed her arms over her chest, putting all her weight on one foot. "It's just that, well, come on, who would really side with Rachel if she had other people to lean on?" _

_ "Um, her friends," she said, her voice marinated in sass. "Come on, Kurt, you can't seriously be saying Rachel doesn't deserve support since these boys are being completely shitty to her." _

_ "Um, Mercedes, I'm still here," Finn said in a quiet voice. _

_ She snorted. "I know that, white boy, but you're being incredibly bitchy at the moment, so I'm not really taking your feelings into consideration," she said, giving him a disgusted look over her shoulder. Finn sighed. "So, Kurt, why are siding with Rachel?" _

_ "Yeah, why are you siding with Rachel?" Finn said, stepping up next to Mercedes. _

_ "You don't deserve to stand next to me, take a step back," she said quickly without even looking away from Kurt. _

_ "You don't even like her." Kurt stomped his foot once at Finn. "What man, you rave about her all the time; her horrible outfits, the way she won't shut up, how you hate when she takes over all the solos in glee… Seriously, man, you are like a living proof of why Rachel shouldn't be alive. Or at least, that's what you said to me," he said, giving him a satisfied smirk. _

_ Mercedes raised an eyebrow and Kurt's eyes looked everywhere, everywhere but Mercedes' eyes. "Well, I suppose… I guess I'm siding with her because- Because, well, because I feel bad about everything I said before…" Mercedes' face relaxed. "When I saw her get torn down from Puck, Jesse and you-" He pointed to Finn angrily, "-I suppose I just felt bad. I knew I cut her down, but not to her face… And seeing her get hurt in front of the whole glee club was just, well, sad… Okay, and I'm sorry for everything I said to her; I'm going to tell her that as soon as we get to her house if Finn doesn't lock us in my room from anger." _

_ Mercedes smiled, walking next to him and licking their arms together. "Alright, white boy, now tell us why you're so upset that we go over to Rachel's house." _

_ Finn huffed, running his fingers through his hair then rubbing the back of his neck. "Because she doesn't need support." Their eyebrows went up. "She… deserves to be upset." _

_ "Why, because you are?" _

_ Finn looked at Mercedes. "No, not because I'm upset, but because she used us… She manipulated us and it's not fair." _

_ Kurt shook his head, looking at the floor. "Finn Hudson, can't you understand that everyone needs support, no matter what they've done to hurt someone else?" The boy's forehead creased in confusion. "Even though she upset both you, Puck and Jesse, she was also hurt when she lost the three boys closest to her; a bully, a best friend and a _boy _friend. It's been rough for her." _

_ "But, she hurt us, too…" Finn said, his voice quiet and sad. "She lied to us." _

_ Mercedes and Kurt felt a small surge of sadness for the boy, but then they both stood up straight. "But, Finn, you have your friends to help you out; Mike, Matt, Artie, Jesse—who'll understand what you're feeling—even Puck although you two aren't really talking anymore. Me and Cedes are just going to cheer up Rachel with a few other girls, same as you have your boys." _

_ Finn's forehead creased even more. "Please, please for the love of God, tell me that Quinn isn't going." They gave him looks of confusion. "If Quinn's going, she'll probably manipulate Rachel into hating me and she'll never talk to me again…" _

_ Mercedes' jaw fell open. "You're feeling the same way about her…" The corners of Finn's mouth turned down. "So, just relax," she said as Kurt zipped up his bag and tossing it onto his shoulder. "You're all over reacting about this whole thing." _

_ "But, she-" _

_ "We don't wanna hear it," the two friends chorused as the trotted up the stairs, through the living room and out to Kurt's car. _

_ "Boys are so immature." _

_ Kurt raised as eyebrow at Mercedes. "Ahem…" _

_ She smiled. "Okay, football players are so immature." _

_ "I hear that," he said before pulling out of his driveway and speeding off to Rachel's house. _

When they both reached her place, just like Quinn, they dropped their bags and embraced her in hugs, but they didn't cry. Instead, Rachel did.

**Okay, girls and possibly boys, that was chapter three. Leave a review. Give me some love. Or hate, if you hated it. I hope you didn't. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four… :) **

Out of all of them, Tina was, of course, the last to arrive at Rachel's house, more annoyed than anyone.

_Tina was bustling around her house, trying to find a phone. She knew that her parents were at work and that they wouldn't allow her to go over to Rachel's housel it was family night. _

_ As she was about to dial Rachel's number, the doorbell rang. Tina sigh, tossed the phone onto the couch and walked to the entry way. After glancing though the peep-hole, she creased her forehead in confusion. "What are _you _doing here?" she said as she opened the door. _

_ The boy gave her a sly sneer. "That's a great way to open the door," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. _

_ "I could see you through the peep-hole. I knew it was you." He nodded and Tina found it annoying that he was at her house. "What are you doing here? You don't even live near me, Jesse." _

_ He sighed. "I'm here to simply let you know your options." _

_ Tina's mouth fell open slightly and she raised an eyebrow at him. "Huh?" _

_ "I heard from a few people that you and three of your other friends are staying at Rachel's house tonight." Tina's cell phone rang and she held up one newly manicured and partially laced finger to him. He nodded understandingly and she opened the text message. _

**Quinn, 'Cedes and I were harassed by Puck and Finn about going 2 Rach's house. If approached by them OR Jesse, DO NOT LISTEN! Be the fierce girl you are! –Kurt **

_Tina texted back a quick O.K. before looking to Jesse angrily. "Were those people you heard from either Puck or Finn?" Jesse stepped into her house. "Yeah, sure, come on in," she said sarcastically, shutting the door. "So… Was it Finn or Puck?" _

_ "Who I heard it from is none of your concern. I just wanted to tell you that I feel very strongly about you going to Rachel's house."_

_ "I bet it was Finn," she said in a concluding voice, planting her hands on her hips. _

_ Jesse rolled his eyes. "Again, none of your concern." _

_ Tina gave him a hard stare, the black make-up around her eyes making the glare more dark and acid as she tried to be as fierce as she could. It is my business if you're saying you 'feel strongly' about me going to have some fun with my friends," she said, bending her fingers in as quotations, her voice as dark as her eyes. "What are you, my father?" _

_ Jesse gave her a small smile. "No, Tina, I'm not your father, I'm just saying that maybe you shouldn't hang out with Rachel." _

_ Tina's forehead creased. "What… What do you mean?" _

_ He shrugged. "I mean that Rachel, she's not someone you wanna hang out with. She's, like, a liar." _

_ At that, Tina discretely reached for her cell phone, typing a 'Danger! St. James alert!' message to Kurt. "Okay, well, Jesse, thank you for the insight, it was fantastic, but I'm not going to Rachel's house anyway." He gave her a confused look. "It's family night." _

_ Jesse nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Good," he sighed, satisfied, before muttering, "cause she's an aggravating know it all." _

_ Tina's phone went off in her pocket but she didn't reach for it. Instead, she stared at Jesse. "That's unfair…" Her words were slow and quiet. _

_ "But it's true," he said, pointing an accusing finger at her. _

_ She gave him a blank faced look. "You're only saying that because of the Run Joey Run video. If you hadn't broken up, you wouldn't even be thinking that. I _know _you wouldn't have said that otherwise." _

_ He snorted, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Oh, come on, Tina. You know it's true. You've seen her in glee club longer than I have." _

_ "That maybe true, but I wouldn't tell her that." He rolled his eyes again. "And she's not bad at all when she's only with a few people. She's relatively normal," Tina whispered, slowly reaching into her pocket. _

_ "Yeah, well, I'm glad to be rid of her. She was taking over my life, practically destroying it. Do you know what she would do?" _

**Evacuate! Evacuate! Take immediate action! –Kurt **

_She nodded. "I'm sure I don't know what she would do, but I don't have time to listen. You need to leave. Right now." _

_ "Why?" _

_ "Because I have to pack. I'm going to Rachel's." _

_ She headed down the hall to her room to get a bag and some clothes. "You said you weren't going over to her house!" he called to her, following down the hall. _

_ This time, Tina rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, you shouldn't even care, Jesse St. James," she said, grabbing a black, white and yellow Vera Bradley bag and tossing a skirt and shirt into it. "You've broken up with her. Don't bother with who hangs out with her." _

_ He leaned against the door frame. "All my friends are hanging out with her." _

_ She snorted. "All your friends are at Carmel High, probably practicing their latest glee number. Why don't you go join them?" she sneered, putting a pair of red and black striped leggings in the bag. _

_ "Because I go to McKinley...?" She shook her head. "And maybe they are practicing their latest number, so all of my available friends are hanging out with her." _

_ Tina turned to face him. She kept her expression blank, trying not to show the annoyance that was bubbling up under her skin. "Jesse, you never talked to us," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "If you want to be with 'available' friends, go find the boys. They've all been 'betrayed' like you. At least, Puck and Finn have." _

_ He let out of burst of air; an irritated sigh. "Okay, will you stop doing this-" He bent his fingers in the air "- and just listen to me?" _

_ Tina grabbed a piece of paper from her desk and scribbled 'At Rachel Berry's. She's having boyfriend problems. There for support,' before tossing her bag over her shoulder. "Wish I could, but I don't want to. I have to go to Rachel's house and you need to leave." She walked past him, taping the note to the wall in front of the door. "Come on, Jesse, leave." _

_ She grabbed her car keys before shooing him out of the house like an annoying cat. "You're making a mistake," he called to her as she flounced over to her black Mini Cooper on the driveway. _

_ Tina climbed into the car. "No, you're just being difficult." _

_ "She lied to me! Her boyfriend! Using other people in a music video, then not telling anyone? She's such a bit-" _

_ "Don't… Finish that sentence," she warned, climbing back out of the car. "Rachel didn't think she was doing anything wrong. It's not my business to speak for her, but all of you are being unfair, especially you! Trying to persuade her friends to not hang out with her? What an asshole move!" _

_ "You're as much of a friend with her as I am with you!" _

_ Tina's face flushed red. "You have no right to say that. I've known her longer. I'm used to her impossible rants and bossing around-"_

_ "So am I," he interrupted. _

_ "I'm friends with her, Jesse. You can't say that I'm not because you don't know what goes on inside our heads. And maybe I'm not best friends with her, but even if I was, you're also trying to persuade me to not hang out with Kurt and Mercedes and Quinn, who I'm even better friends with, cause they're going too, so take that stick out of your ass and get over yourself. She didn't know she was doing anything wrong. She didn't know that was going to happen." He sighed, digging the heel of his sneaker into the driveway. "Now, get off my property. I have to go." _

_ Tina got into her car and drove off, pulling out her cell phone. _

**Just got harassed. On my way. **

_She sighed, placing her phone in the cup holder, not picking it up again until she got to Rachel's. _

When the door was opened, all five of them eloped each other in a group hug.

"Thank you," Rachel whispered. "So much."


	5. Chapter 5

**An introduction into the beautiful mind of Michael Chang… Not now, later… Enjoy! **

Mercedes flounced into Rachel's living room, carrying four bottles of Coke and a bowl of popcorn. They were all settled on the floor, surrounded by what seemed to be thousands of pillows, couch cushions and blankets. Rachel and Kurt were snuggled up together, wrapped in a giant blanket like a butterfly in a cocoon. Her right arm was tucked under his left arm, linked together while Tina sat directly across from them, leaning against the wall as the two of them were resting against a side of the 'L' shaped couch.

Mercedes settled herself on the other side of the 'L' couch, creating a right angle between Rachel, Kurt and Tina. Quinn came down from the upstairs bathroom, fixing her ponytail as she slowly lowered herself across from Mercedes, crossing her legs before laying a blanket over her. "SO, Rachel, how are you feeling?" she asked, grabbing a hand full of popcorn and tossing a few kernels into her mouth.

Rachel smiled, snuggling closer to Kurt. "I think I'm okay, now that I have you guys with me…" They all smiled and Kurt rested his head on hers. "I just- I never thought that you would go against Finn, Jesse, and Puck; I thought you hated me."

Everyone looked at the floor shamefully. "Rachel," Quinn said quietly, her voice in a slight waver. The brunette looked at her curiously. "I'm so sorry. I should have treated you differently when I was a Cheerio, even when I was kicked off. I- You've been nothing but nice to me and I treated you like shit… I'm so sorry."

Rachel leaned over Kurt and took the blonde's hand squeezing it once. "It's okay, Quinn."

She shook her head. "It's not. I was so awful and I'm only seeing it now when the people who are closest to me are treating you the way I did; it's so hard for me to watch you be treated like this and to know that I was doing the same thing no less than a week ago…." Rachel's lips pursed into a straight line. "I just wish I could have done something different."

Rachel let out a choked laugh. "I just want to put it all in the past. I have you guys now and I know that's all that counts."  
~*~

Puck took Quinn's advice. 'Use your fake I.D.s and buy yourself some beers.'

He was sitting with his boys, but they weren't drinking much; all five of them had only drunk a beer and a half all together. They were playing video games now, mostly Halo and Call of Duty and Puck was pissed with himself that Finn was beating him in a game he usually kicked ass in.

"So, Puck, man, why are _you_ so pissed about the video? Sure, it's a'ight for Finn to be pissed, but I don't get why you are," Matt said, his fingers moving over the game controller instinctively.

Puck shrugged. "Dunno, man. I guess Berry's little stunt made me snap at all of the bullshit women dish out to us."

Mike looked slowly at Puck. "No, dude, it's not bullshit. It's a blessing in disguise," he said, taking a meaningful pause before continuing. "They treat us this way and we think they're just bitching around and treating us like crap, but I tell you now, boys, it's not." Puck paused the game while Finn, Matt, Artie and himself looked at Mike, waiting for more. "You see, women; they have brains that have all power over everything. When we do something small, like not getting the right thing for them on a holiday such as Valentine's day, they flip, shouting about how we're conceded. This, if course, gets us mad, so we say something along the lines of calling them foul names. In return, this sets them off and everything gets blown up from there, making us feel crappy, even though, when you bring it back to the Valentine's day gift, we didn't do anything wrong.

"So, when you think about it, women have nuclear minds and they can to stuff like twisting out minds to think and to different things because, in reality, women… are brain ninjas."

Mike sat back happily, satisfied at his explanation, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone was looking at him with bored looks on their faces and their mouths hanging open.

Finally, Puck spoke.

"Mike, that is the most retarded thing I've ever heard," he said in monotone, wandering into the kitchen and returning a minute later with a cookie jar.

Mike stared at him for a moment than let out a laugh that was a cross between and bellow and a giggle.

"What?" Puck snapped, nearly dropping his cookie on the floor.

"It's actually true, dude." They shook their heads. "No, seriously, think about it. Has there ever been a woman that hasn't made you feel like complete shit at one time or another when you think you haven't done anything wrong?" The boys, again, shook their heads but this time in answer to Mike's question. "Exactly! So when they flip a crap on you, they're ninjaing your brains!" He did a karate chop.

Everyone looked at one another. "But how is that a blessing in disguise?" Artie asked slowly, raising one eyebrow at Mike.

"Okay, okay, think about it." Mike scooted to the edge of the couch, holding his pointer fingers to his temples. "Women… Or women _ninjas_?"

The boys looked at each other for a minute, then at the same time said "Women ninjas." Matt was the first to laugh, followed by Finn than the rest of them and for a moment, Puck was lost, forgetting all about reality until his little sister came around the corner, rubbing her eye with a tiny fist. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, the sleeves reaching her elbows, the hem reaching her knees.

"Noah, you woked me up…" she said, yawning.

Puck put his lip out in a pout. "Hey, Jo!" Finn called to the small girl, waving his hand.

Her face lit up when she saw him. "Finnie!" she squealed, suddenly awake. "I haven't seen you in a long times!"

He laughed, scooping her into his arms and placing her on his lap. "It's 'in a long time,' Joey, not 'a long times'." She rolled her bright blue eyes, throwing her arms around his neck. "So, how are you?" he asked, tickling her stomach.

"Go-o-o-o-o-o-ood," she said, dragging it out as long as she could. After giving Finn a hug, she scrambled to Mike and Matt, giving them hugs as well. Over Matt's shoulder, she could see Artie sitting there awkwardly. "Hello!" She stuck her hand out to him. "My name is Josephine. I'm Noah's wittle sister. This is Ray, the firefly!" She showed him the stuffed animal she had been clutching in her hand. "I'm fowa!"

Puck smiled. "Actually, she's five," he said, grabbing her and blowing a raspberry onto her stomach. "Her birthday was yesterday."

"I fowgot."

Mike leaned over from his seat on the couch and held his fist out to her. She punched her small hand against his knuckles. "Happy birthday, grasshopper," he said, ruffling her hair.

She looked up at her brother with innocent big eyes. "Can I have a cookie?"

Puck narrowed his eyes at her. "Josephine Puckerman, it's eleven o'clock at night. Do you really think you can have a cookie?" She nodded, smiling and he shrugged. "Eh, good enough. Here," he mumbled, holding the cookie jar out to her.

She took one and nibbled on it, looking at the TV. "Can we watch a movie?"

"Oh, is there anything else you wanna ask me, because it seems as though you're filled with questions." Josephine shook her head and Puck looked to his friends, who shrugged. "Okay, Joey, go pick a movie, girlie," he said, patting her back a few times as she hopped off his lap to go over to the DVD rack and held one up to him. "Jo, we watched The Princess and the Frog yesterday."

"But I love it!" She showed him the firefly Ray. "And Ray's in it!"

Puck made a pained face but he gave in when she gave him the cutest puppy dog look he'd ever seen. "Fine!" His answer was clippy and sharp, but Josephine grinned, opening the DVD player and placing the disk inside.

She stood, plopping herself onto Puck's lap, her head resting on his shoulder as the cartoon characters moved around the screen. Puck wrapped his arms around her, his hands resting on her belly button. Artie slowly turned the light dial, making the brightness in the room dim down to a low shine.

By the second song, Josephine was fast asleep, her arms and legs limp. "I'm going to put her back in bed," Puck whispered, standing up and adjusting her so she was balanced on his hip before walking down the hall, past the living room and his room before he reached her bedroom. He set her down in her bed, tucking her in lightly and kissing her temple. He flicked on her Princess and the Frog nightlight and shut the door quietly.

When Puck went back down to the living room, he saw the four boys, in a wide-eyed trance. He looked to the screen and laughed once when he saw they were captured by the voodoo song.

Mike looked slowly to Puck. "This movie is freaking awesome, dude. Joey has a promising future."

Puck froze. "Shit, Mike, man, you're right about women. Joey has brain ninjaed you!"

The lanky boy smiled.

"Women ninjas," they all said together, and Puck, again, forgot about reality and laughed.

**Can you tell that in this story, Mike's theatricality is going to be a big part of, well, like, everything!? Cos I certainly can! **

**Please review! That was chapter five! :) **


	6. Chapter 6

Over the weekend, after the others had left, Quinn stayed behind to spend another night. Rachel invited her over for a little while longer for some one-on-one talk time. Quinn eagerly accepted.

They were now sitting in Rachel's room, Quinn leaning against a post at the end of the bed while Rachel was rested against the headboard. A large pizza was in front of them and neither of them took a piece, waiting for it to cool.

"You know what I've been thinking?" Quinn said as she took a sip from her seventh bottle of Coke that night. Rachel averted her eyes from the pizza to look at Quinn. "Why was I such a bad person to you? We used to be best friends."

Rachel smiled. "Well, when Santana came to the Elementary school, we sort of drifted apart..." she said, pulling some cheese off the crust and popping it into her mouth. "Then, when Brittney came in eighth grade, we grew apart completely."

Quinn nodded slowly. "I suppose... But we would have so much fun when we were younger."

"Remember the time when you squirted a whole thing of super glue into Jacob Ben Israel's chair in second grade and he got stuck?" Rachel giggled out, biting her lip.

"Ooh! I loved in fourth grade when we were planning to vandalize Puck's tree house but you got caught on the fence and his dad had to help you down." Rachel blushed. "You had a rip all the way up your skirt. His mom had to sew it while you stood there in a pair of his jeans!" Quinn laughed, wiping away tears.

Rachel smiled, pulling a slice of pizza out of the box. "That's not as bad as the time when we were biking past Finn's house and they threw paint balloons at us. They got one on your head and your hair was tinted purple for a week and a half," she said, smiling triumphantly at Quinn.

"But I always regretted losing you as a friend. Santana and Brittney never did the things you did. They didn't make me laugh to make me do stupid things that ended up being really fun. I got just got into trouble. I bet you a thousand dollars that if I had stayed friends with you, I wouldn't have gotten pregnant." Rachel chewed her pizza slowly. "I always wish I'd stayed friends with you, all the time. Even if it meant making you be a Cheerio, or making me be like-"

"Me."

"I just, Rachel, I'm-"

The small girl interrupted her. "Forget it. We're friends now and that's what counts. Have some pizza."

As the two girls were just about to grab the last pieces of pizza, Rachel heard a key in the door. They both froze. "Rachel!?" She looked to the door slowly. "Rachel, we're home!"

Slowly, the two girls rose from the bed and walked down the hall to the top of the stairs. Her two fathers were standing there with their suitcases and shopping bags. "Hi, Daddy," she said, hugging the two men. "Dad, Daddy, you remember Quinn Fabray, don't you?"

She looked back to the blonde who was descending the stairs cautiously. Quinn stood next to Rachel. "Of course we do! Quinn, so good to see you!" One of Rachel's fathers embraced her tightly. "And what's this? A baby? Well, congratulations, Quinn, darling."

"...Oh, um, thank you, Mr. Berry," she said, smiling as best she could through her fear.

He waved his hand once. "Please, call me Lyle. He's Mr. berry."

Lyle nodded to his partner, who stuck out his hand. "And you can call me Michael," he said in a formal voice. "I think you've known me long enough to be past that stage of calling me Mr. Berry." She shook his hand. "I think it's wonderful you're pregnant. Boy or girl?"

"Oh, a girl." They smiled. "But I'm not keeping her."

Michael and Lyle nodded slowly. "Well, that's okay. You're young, what, sixteen? Rachel's cousin recently had a baby and had to give him up, but she's going to keep in contact with him," Michael said, his hand squeezing Quinn's softly. "But you'll be fine. Rachel's mother was a teen mom as well, she was very brave. I know you're a strong girl. You can do it."

Quinn's chin quivered. She then stepped toward Michael, wrapping her arms around his middle. Everyone froze-Michael wasn't a very touchy-feely man, but after a moment, he rested his arms, embracing her tightly and soon, Quinn began to cry.  
~*~

The two girls were now sitting in front of the fireplace, wrapped up in blankets while sipping hot chocolate; it was March and there was rain pouring down the windows like a waterfall over rocks.

"I believe what my dad said, Quinn," Rachel whispered over the rim of her mug. "You're strong. You'll be able to give up the baby."

Quinn shrugged, licking the melted marshmallow off her top lip. "I guess, but Puck will never agree to it. He wants me to keep her. Even his mom does..."

"Well, I can have a little chat with him, I suppose," she said, giggling once into her hot chocolate.

"He's not talking to anyone except the boys." Rachel brow furrowed. "Because of the... The thing?"

Rachel nodded slowly. "Of course." Quinn made an annoyed face. "I suppose I should apologize to him about that." Quinn chewed on her lip. "I mean, I was a little unfair to all of them."

"No, no, you weren't. I'm not trying to keep you from saying sorry, but, they're just being jerks. You just put them in a music video, it's not like you made out with all of them and announced it to the world."

Rachel snorted. "Thank God. Jesse would never forgive me if I did." Quinn nodded solemnly. "But I feel like I should, sort of, well, not win them back, but, ugh, you know what I mean?"

"Oh, yes, I do know." Quinn smiled deviously. "And I know exactly who you should go to for help..."  
~*~

Quinn sent Rachel to Mike and Matt on the Monday morning after their two-night sleepover at Rachel's house. She had pointed them out among the crowd of lingering students who didn't yet want to go to class. "Just ask them. You know them, Rachel," she said, pulling her backpack out of her car and hanging it on her shoulder. "They're so chill, they'll want to help you. Mike hates when there is tension. It throws off the energy."

Rachel raised her eyebrow at Quinn, hugging her arms around herself. Her baggy sweater hung on her frame. It was the first time in years Rachel was wearing something that didn't look like it belonged on a five year old. The beige, knitted sweater hung below her hips and hid the curves of her torso. "Throws off the energy."

Quinn shrugged. "It's a ninja thing," she said as if it was an everyday thing to say before she flashed Rachel a quick smile and flounced off to her first period class.

She was slightly dreading it, because it was the class that she shared with Puck, the class that they sat next to each other in. When she walked into the classroom, Puck was already sitting there with a binder in front of him as he tapped his pencil anxiously and glued his eyes to the door. Quinn said nothing as she sat down and took out her homework, making sure all her answers were correct before the teacher would collect it.

"Are you still not talking to me?" he asked in a small voice, his hand sliding across the table slightly to attempt to cover hers.

Quinn slid his hand away. "Have you apologized to Rachel yet?" Puck cleared his throat. "Then, yes, I'm still not talking to you."

"Come on, Quinn, that's not fair."

"I've said it before and I've said it again. It's not fair to her either."

Puck slammed his fist on the desk once. "God damn it, Quinn…" he mumbled just as the teacher came into the room and the last few students dashed in before the bell sounded.

"Hello, everyone, how are you?" she said, placing her books on the desk in the front of the room.

"Terrible," Puck grumbled to himself and Quinn rolled her eyes. "My girlfriend won't talk to me…"

"Grow up."  
~*~

It was about time for glee practice... Everyone was regretting it—even Mr. Schuster—who was walking as slow as he could to the choir room.

Rachel was, of course, the first on there, and she was sitting smack in the middle of the makeshift stage that was against the wall. There were twelve chairs around her, all of them empty. She was fine with that. She wanted some time to think. She _needed _some time to think. Everything was better with Puck, she knew that for sure because, honestly, if they weren't, why did he let her kiss his cheek? It's all there. Rachel sighed and continued on with her wondering. She knew for a fact that Finn was going to be a difficult person to have to apologize to. He was sensitive and caring, thoughtful and polite, but when it came to forgiving and forgetting, he was mean, rude and as subtle as a gun when showing anger.

She was just about to find a way to get him to forgive her when Puck plopped himself in the seat next to her. His hands were resting on his thighs as he lazily leaned back on the plastic chair. "So... When are you going to tell Quinn that everything's all good between us?"

"I don't know, when she's here, why?"

He shrugged, running a hand over his Mohawk. "No reason... I just hate when she's mad at me..." Rachel smiled. "No, not like that, Berry. When she's mad, she doesn't talk to me. I hate that."

She nodded slowly, noting that Quinn came marching into the room, carefully setting herself down in the chair on Rachel's other side, giving Puck a sly glare. "Hey, Rach," she said cheerfully when her direction was turned to the small brunette.

"Hey, Quinn..." Puck subtly poked her hip and she jumped slightly, sighing with impatience. "Quinn, I just wanted to tell you that everything is better between Noah and I. We're not fighting anymore."

The blonde's eyebrow shot into the air. "Oh, really?" she leered skeptically. Rachel nodded. "So, he apologized to you, did he?"

Puck froze, his face falling into the saddest look Rachel had ever seen anyone give her. It made her want to cry. She almost did cry, but she held herself. "Um... Yeah, he did. He apologized to me," she said with a very convincing tone to her voice.

Quinn's eyebrow shot up. "Oh? ...What did he say?"

"Uh... Um..." Rachel stuttered, glancing at Puck for a moment, scared.

"I said that I was being a colossal ass and that I was overreacting and I was really sorry for making her upset."

A smile spread across Quinn's face, one of relief and satisfaction. "Well, I know you're lying..." Puck and Rachel slumped in their chairs. "...But, I'm not mad at you anymore, Puck... I'm over it."

"Really?"

Quinn rose from her chair and stepped around Rachel to press her lips against Puck's. He was surprised, shocked even. Although Quinn was living in his house and they were sort of in a relationship since they were having a baby, they'd never addressed that it was such a thing. She just made it official, he supposed. At that moment, Finn walked into the choir room, a sickening look spreading over his face as he looked at his best friend and his ex-girlfriend kissing in front of him.

"Everybody, let's have a seat." The four of them jumped as Mr. Schuster came marching into the room with the rest of the glee club following close behind. "I have a new assignment for the week, just give me a minute to photocopy these and I'll be back in a few."

Everyone shuffled to their seats, all of them giving Rachel different looks; a range of soft smiles and mini ninja poses. It all made her laugh. "Hey, Rachel," Mercedes said, leaning forward in her seat so she could speak to the small brunette. "My mom's having a party on Friday night and she said to invite who ever I wanted. You wanna come?"

"Who... Who's going to be there?" she said in an uncertain voice, turning in her chair and looking up at Mercedes.

She was quiet for a moment. "Eh, not a lot of people; you, me, Kurt, the girls, I might invite Santana and Brittney, but I'm not sure... So, can you come?"

Rachel nodded and was about to say something when Mr. Schuster came waltzing back in the the choir room. "Okay, guys, so I've been thinking about doing the assignment for about three weeks, I just never got a round to it." He walked to the whiteboard, picking up a dry erase marker and scribbling something down on the board. _Idol. _"What do you think of when you see or hear this word?"

Kurt instantly answered. "Madonna."

"Aretha Franklin," Mercedes said after him.

Rachel followed after with "Barbra Streisand."

Mr. Schuster nodded. "Alright guys, these are good... Uh, Puck? What about you? What's an idol for you? Maybe your Dad? He was a singer, right?"

"Yeah," Puck said, his voice cold and hard. "But not an idol to me." Mr. Schuster looked at him expectantly. "Aerosmith, dude. They've got some pretty hardcore stuff. Have you _heard _Dream On? That's epic as shit, man."

"Alright, that's good, that's good." Mr. Schuster looked around the room. "Has anyone seen Jesse? Is he not in school today?

"Uh, I saw him earlier," Finn said, shaking his hand through his hair. "But, I'm pretty sure he left. He went to the nurse during math looking like he was going to barf..."

Rachel was silent. "Oh, alright," Mr. Schuster said, dismissing the subject as if it weren't a big deal. He looked to Quinn. "What about you?"

She didn't answer. She just sat there for a moment, , chewing on her bottom lip. A few minutes passed by until she came up with an answer. "I have to say that, for me, I'm a big fan of Simon and Garfunkel. When I first found out I was pregnant, I listened to Bridge Over Troubled Water. I felt it very helpful through the difficult times and I still listen to it when I feel sad or something..."

They all looked at her with soft faces, Rachel reaching over and squeezing her and lightly. "I like them, too," she said quietly and Quinn smiled.

The room was silent after Quinn gave her excerpt on her idol, or in her case, idols. No one knew what to say after her sad story. "Well, everyone, this is what I want to do. You have to pick your favorite song by that artist, or idol and you have to perform it by the end of the week." Everyone did small cheers, highfiving each other and nodding their heads. "But, I want this to be _big. _You should dress like your idol and try to show us how connected you are with this person. Do your best to tell us how this person, or idol, has changed your outlook on life."

"Uh, Mr. Schuster, we don't have to come to school wearing these outfits, do we?" Tina suddenly said, an unsure look on her face. "I think that if I come to school dressed as Lady Gaga, I'll get more than a Slushee thrown in my face."

"Nope, just for practice..." Everyone sighed, relieved. "But... I _do _think that there will be a little surprise at the end of this... Maybe."

The bell rang and everyone started standing up to leave. "I want you planning and I want a copy of the sheet music on my desk by Wednesday, people! Wednesday! This means you've got two days!"

The glee club started filing out of the room, some chatting about what singer they were going to do, some talking about how this was the dumbest assignment ever. Mr. Schuster turned toward the piano, rifling through some papers and didn't notice that Quinn had stayed behind. Once everyone had left, she stood up and approached Mr. Schuster. "Uh, excuse me, Mr. Schue? I have a question," she said slowly, clutching her binder to her chest.

"Yeah, sure, Quinn." He turned back around from the piano to face the young teen with a smile spread across his face. "What's up?"

"Well... Simon and Garfunkel are men... I connect with their music, not to them personally... What should I do?"

Mr. Schuster placed his thumb under his chin and rested his fingers over his lips. "I think I have an idea. Do you have a song in mind that you wanted to sing?"

She nodded. "There was a song I recently found... I forget what it's called." She pulled out her iPod from her bag and scanned her playlist until she found the song, then showed Mr. Schuster the screen.

"Oh, yeah, I definitely have an idea." She bit her lip. "I want to show you something, Quinn. Come with me."

The two people walked out of the choir room, down the hall, through the Spanish room and into his office. "Have a seat, Quinn," he said when she just stood there. "I was looking through a few Simon and Garfunkel songs a couple days ago when I stumbled on this. "He turned his laptop to face her so she could see the video he'd played. "I think this could work."

Quinn watched the video for a moment, and then, she smiled.

**There. Hope you liked it. The people who I pictured as Rachel's dads are on my picture blog. Link on my profile. Please review. They make for faster updates. Seriously. **


	7. Chapter 7

That afternoon, when Puck and Quinn walked into his house, the first thing he did was throw down his bag and shout "Ma!" Quinn had to cover her ears from how loud he was. "Ma! We're home!"

"In the kitchen!" she called back and the two of them followed the small of meatballs and pasta down the hall and to their left to the kitchen. "How was school?" she asked without looking from the stove.

They sat down at the table, Puck pouring water from the icy water pitcher in front of them. He can Quinn began sipping at the water. "It was good," Quinn said through a happy sigh, placing her hands over her belly.

Puck's mother, Shoshana, nodded. "Oh?"

"Yeah, we got a new assignment for glee club," Puck said, suddenly in a bad mood.

The two women looked at him for a moment. "That's right, we did!" Quinn said, trying to pick up the mood. "We get to pick our songs and artists, and we get to dress like them; ti's fantastic. I'm so excited."

"Well, that's good news!" his mother said, draining the pasta into a strainer in the sink. She poured it back into a bowl and mixed it with sauce. "I've got some good news, too." She placed the food in front of them. "And I wanted to tell you two before I told Josephine" They nodded, instantly diving into the food. "Well, you both know how I finished college with a degree in Air and Flight and such like that?"

"Mm-hmm," they mumbled in unison.

Shoshana wrung her hands together, slightly nervous. "Well, today I, uh, I got a job as a flight attendant."

Forks clattered against the plates and they looked up at her with wide eyes. "Wha-?" Puck struggled to say around the abundance of spaghetti hanging from his mouth.

His mother nodded. "Yep! I start this Thursday. It's in Paris! I can stay there for one night for each trip I go on. Noah, I can see the world, just like I've always wanted."

Puck swallowed his food, wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood from the table. "That's great, Ma," he said, hugging her tightly. She laughed into his shoulder, slightly crying from excitement. "I'm really happy for you."

They pulled away from each other and Quinn was right there, ready to welcome Shoshana's tight embrace. "Congratulations, Ms. Puckerman. That's so amazing."

"Oh, thank you, Quinn." She hugged the teen tighter. "You both are so supportive." Shoshana pulled away from Quinn. "But, there is one slight catch..."

Puck's shoulders slumped. "What is it?"

"Josephine... You two are going to have to take care of her." Puck's jaw dropped but Quinn beamed. "I'm not going to be home as much as I was when I was working in the office; you'll have to everything I would do..."

Quinn started nodding excitedly. "Yes, absolutely... Anything." Puck looked at her with a face that screamed 'What are you doing?' "We'd love to."

Shoshana smiled, clapping her hands together once. "Fantastic. Thank you, Quinn. But, you will have to do everything, like-"

Suddenly, the front door burst open and they could hear Josephine squealing. "Mommy!" she said, scampering into the kitchen and jumping into her mother's arms. She hugged her tightly, her stubby little arms clutching her neck. "I have somethin' for you!"

"Really?" Shoshana said excitedly, kissing her daughter's cheek. "What is it?"

Josephine reached between her shirt and the flap of her overalls, whipping out a rainbow beaded necklace, all the beads in color order; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. It was about as long as her arm and it swung back and forth as she put it around Shoshana's neck. "Thank you, baby, it's beautiful!" she said, looking at the necklace.

"You're welcome!"

"Hello?" they heard someone call from the hallway.

Shoshana suddenly handed off Josephine to Puck and ran from the kitchen calling "Lily!"

They could hear laughing and Puck followed Quinn into the living room to see his mother hugging a blonde woman he'd never seen before. They were both crying, rocking from side to side. "Hi," Puck said, chewing on his lip as he lightly bounced Josephine on his hip. "I'm Puck... Noah."

The blonde woman pulled away from his mother and looked at him with astonished eyes. "Oh, my goodness, Shana, he's so grown up!" She circled the three of them for a moment before smiling. "And so handsome!"

Puck's forehead creased together in confusion. "Excuse my rudeness, but who are you?" he said with a slightly sassy tone.

The blonde woman laughed. "Well, I couldn't expect you to remember me," she said, running a hand through her hair. "I'm Lily, you're mother's friend from college. I got her the job today..." Puck's face remained in the expression it had. "Oh, let me see... The last time I saw you, you were about six years old... We were at the theme park and you kept wanting to go on the giant roller coaster but they said you were too short. You were crying the whole day, but then I bought you an ice cream and you instantly perked up."

Suddenly, Puck's face lit up with a smile and he placed Josephine on the floor. "Aunt Lily... I remember you now..." he said, giving her a hug. She laughed, patting his back a few times. "I remember that day too... The ice cream was black raspberry with a waffle cone."

Lily nodded, holding his face in her hands. "Let me get a good look at you, Noah." Lily studied every aspect of his face, from the hazel gray eyes to the dimple in his right cheek. "You haven't changed at all," she said, satisfied.

He smiled, making his dimple a little deeper. "Thanks. You look totally different." She laughed. "You do... But in a good way."

Lily laughed, hugging him again. After a moment, she noticed Quinn standing there awkwardly. "Oh, so, you must be the girlfriend... Quinn, am I right?" She nodded slowly and Lily went in for a tight hug. "Joey told me a lot about you on the ride home. She said you were going to be a mommy?" Quinn's arms slid protectively over her bump as she nodded again. "Well, that's great! How many months?"

"Five..."

"Ooh, so she's coming soon! Well, that's fantastic. Congratulations to you both." Puck wrapped his arms around Quinn, pulling her close to him. "Are you keeping her or giving her up for adoption?"

They were silent for a moment, then Puck spoke. "We're not sure yet... It's really all up to Quinn. Whatever she does, I do." Lily nodded wisely, giving them a soft smile.

"Well, whatever happens, just know that I'm happy for you, Noah. And Quinn," Lily said, stroking the young girls cheek quickly before turning to Shoshana. "So, can I help with anything? Dinner, cleaning, entertaining these young children?"

Puck's mother smiled, wandering into the kitchen. "Dinner's already done, but you can join us for it." The rest of them followed her, sitting back down at the table. Josephine was sitting in her booster seat, waiting for her mother to place the plate of spaghetti in front of her. She was kicking her feet excitedly, a grin spread across her face. "Joey, calm down!" Shoshana said, giving her the plate and a glass of milk.

"I can't!" she said as she started slurping up her dinner. "Spaghetti is my favorite!" They all smiled at her, with spaghetti hanging from her mouth and sauce all over her face.

"That's good, baby." They were all silent for a moment, eating their dinner before Shoshana spoke again. "Joey, I have something to tell you..."

The five year old looked up from her plate, an innocent look on her face. "Yes, Mommy?"

Her mother sighed. "Well, you remember how Aunt Lily got me a job today?" She nodded. "Well, that job means that I'm not going to be home very often. I'll be traveling a lot which means that Noah and Quinn are going to be watching you most of the time."

Josephine's face fell. "You're gonna be leaving?" she said, her voice squeaking.

"No, sweetie, not leaving, just going on trips for a while."

Suddenly, the little girl threw down her fork and jumped from her seat, pattering out of the kitchen and down the hall to her room. They heard her door slam, but then everything remained silent.

"I'll go talk to her," Shoshana, Puck and Lily said at the same time, standing up from the table.

Puck shook his head. "I'll go. Come on, Ma, let me talk to her."

"No, I should do it. I'm her mother, I can reason with her."

"Shana, no, I'll go. This is my fault. I'll talk with her."

They continued arguing, voices overlapping each other as Quinn just sat there, biting her lip. Without them noticing, she slipped past the three people and tip-toed down the hall to Josephine's room. She knocked softly on the door. "Joey?"

"Go way!" she said stubbornly and Quinn heard her stomp her foot.

"But, Joey, it's me, Quinn." She pattered close to the door. "I just want to talk to you quickly." The knob started to turn. "Please open the door."

Slowly, the door creaked open and Josephine's head popped out, her face still splattered with pasta sauce. She looked around, making sure Quinn hadn't brought anyone else with her before grabbing the blonde's hand and pulling her into the room. Quinn sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her, smiling when Josephine, reluctantly, plopped herself down, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What's the matter, honey? Why are you upset?"

Josephine sniffed, her lip out in a pout. "Mommy's going away. She's leaving me here all by my self."

"No, she's not, honey. Noah and I are going to be here to take care of you."

Things were silent for a moment and Quinn pulled Joey close to her, letting the young girl rest her head on her belly. Joey just sniffed and cried, wiping her nose with the hem of Quinn's shirt. "Did I do somethin' bad? Mommy never leaves me for more than one day. I did somethin' bad, didn't I."

Quinn's jaw dropped slightly. "Josephine, your mother would never leave you because you did something wrong. Your mommy would never leave your period. But, she will be working a lot, which mean's she can't be home as much as she was when she was working at the office." She started sobbing into Quinn's lap. "Joey, your mother would never leave you, you have to remember that. She loves you so much and she's doing this so she can take better care of you." Josephine looked up at Quinn, her eyes red and sad. "And, this means that you can spend more time with me and your brother."

"Really?" the five year old said, sniffling. Quinn nodded, stroking Josephine's hair. "Okay." She sat up, slapping her hands over her face a few times as if that was to cure her crying and sobbing and she wiped off the spaghetti sauce in the process. "Can we back to dinna?"

The teenager nodded, tucking her finger under Josephine's chin and kissing her forehead before they exited the room and went back to the kitchen. Puck, Lily and Shoshana were still arguing about who was going to get Josephine back to the table when they sat down, eating again as if nothing had happened. With their forks clinking against the plates, the three people stopped suddenly, turning their heads to look at the two people sitting at the diner table. Shoshana's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Puck's mouth dropped, shocked.

"Joey, what was-"

"Don't," Puck said, interrupting Lily. "If we address it it'll just make it worse." They nodded, slowly sitting back down at the table. "So, Joey..." he said as he began twirling spaghetti around his fork. "How was preschool today?"

She grinned. "Well today when I was playing with Tia we were in the sandbox and George come up to us and kicks sand in her face so I started running after him because I'm a good friend and then I caught up to him because he's such a slow runner and I tackled him to the ground and I sat on his chest and told him to go over to Tia and apologize because it was such a mean thing to do but then Ms. Jacobs came over and told me to get off his chest then I told her that George had kicked sand in Tia's face and that she was crying so Ms. Jacobs had me get off and then after recess she made him apologize to Tia in front of the whole class then he had to sit in the bad corner for the rest of the day and when we got cookies for a snack, he only got the crumbled ones because the person in the corner gets last pick of the snack and it was really funny because George always gets first pick of the cookies and then he started crying because he didn't get what he wanted." Joey took a huge breath and continued. "And then after school when I was waiting for Lily to pick me up George came up to me and said I was a meany face that smelled like poo so I just told him that he was being adolescent but I didn't even know what that word meant and I'd only heard Quinn call Noah that but he always seemed to get angry so I called George and adolescent and then he stomped his foot because he didn't know what I was talking about but I didn't even know what I was talking about and it was just really funny because he stomped away to him mommy who just put him the car and drove away," she said, her words flying from her mouth at a mile a minute.

They all nodded. "That's great, sweetie," Shoshana said, taking a sip from her water. "But adolescent means that you grow up between pre-teen years and teen years."

Joey gave a confused look. "Then why does Noah always get upset when Quinn says he's adolescent?"

"Because I don't want to be grown up," Puck said stubbornly, glaring at his food. "I want to stay the immature being I am."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Oh, Puck, don't be so adolescent," she said sarcastically, waving her hand at him.

The room was silent for a moment, then they all burst out laughing.


	8. Chapter 8

** Hello, my little minions. How have you all been since I last updated? I hope all's well and that you had great vacations and holidays.**

** Here's your update for today!**

** Enjoy!**

On Thursday morning, Puck, Quinn and Josephine woke up extra early to make their mother a good-bye breakfast of toast with raspberry jam, scrambled eggs and orange juice. Under watchful eye, the five year old carried the tray down to her mother's room, where she was sleeping.

Puck shook her awake. "Ma, get up," he said, shaking her again.

"What's going on?" she said groggily, sitting up as Josephine placed the tray in front of her.

"Happy going away and gettin' a betta jowb as a place attendment!" the little girl said, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Plane _attendant,_ Joey," Quinn said, lifting the little girl onto her back. "But, happy last day here, Ms. Puckerman."

Shoshana smiled as she finished a half of toast. "Well, thank you, kids." She sipped dome orange juice. "This means so much to me. Come here, all of you," she said, holding her arms out to the three people. They all sat around her, Puck on the right, Quinn on her left and Joey sat between the tray and her mother. "I'm going to miss all of you so much." Puck's mother kissed Quinn on the temple as Joey snuggled into her mother's stomach and Puck leaned his head on her shoulder. "I love all of you and I'm noting to miss you like crazy."

Quinn felt her eyes tear up. She didn't want to cry—no one ever wants to cry—but she felt her eyes start to burn and she had to keep her eyes shut to keep them from watering.

"We love you, too, Ma," Puck said, hugging her tighter.

Quinn felt a tear slip down her cheek and she sniffed, hoping no one heard. Shoshana did, and she pulled away from everyone. "Hey, kids, could I have a moment alone with Quinn?"

Puck picked up Joey, balancing her on his hip. She pouted stubbornly but he said to her, "Jo, do you want to watch Sponge-Bob?" and she instantly perked up, squealing and clapping her hands.

When the door was shut behind them, Puck's mom put the tray on her night table and turned to face Quinn. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked, crossing her lefts light a first grader. "Why are you upset?"

"It's nothing, really, I'm fine," she squeaked out, failing at hiding her sadness."

Shoshana's eyebrow shot up. "Barely being able to talk isn't nothing, Quinn. Now, tell me what's the matter."

For a while, Quinn was silent and Shoshana kept herself patient, waiting for her to answer. "I just- It's only that-" She started to cry again, her face buried in her hands. "No one's said I love you to me for a long time."

"Oh, honey," Shoshana said, pulling Quinn closer to her and hugging her tightly. "It's okay, Quinn, it's okay."

The teenager shook her head into Shoshana's shoulder. "No, it's not!" she wailed, sobbing into her hands again. "My parents haven't said I love you to me, even before they kicked me out. How could they do something like that?"

Mrs. Puckerman looked at Quinn. "Honey, can I tell you a story?" Quinn nodded slowly, sniffing again.

"When I was around your age, I met Noah's father. He was a few years older than me—He was nineteen and I was sixteen. He was so cute and was really sweet to me. My father had told me to let him go, since he was in a band and was always getting into trouble, but I loved him so much that wanted to be with him that I didn't listen to my father and when I was almost a junior, his band has started to pick up and they went on tour. He asked me to go with him, so in the middle of the night, I left the house, leaving a note for my parents saying that I would be coming back. It didn't seem to be such a big deal since I was so in love with him. I almost thought he was an angel.

"We were on the road for a few months before I had completely transformed from the straight A student on honor roll to tattooed and drunk." She showed Quinn a blood red heart on her hip with thorns twisting around it. Quinn said nothing and allowed her to continue. "Puck's father still treated me like I was his world, though, always taking good care of me and acting as though I would break if something ever happened to me. I was eighteen when I got pregnant with Noah. I was an adult and everything, but still, pregnant at eighteen..." Quinn halfheartedly laughed once.

"Well, anyway. Noah's father and I decided that it would be better for me to go home and be under someone else's care then to be pregnant on the road. He and his band kindly took a detour and dropped me off at my house, where my parents were living. No one was home, but I knew where they kept the key, so I let myself in. Everything seemed normal, pictures all over the place, but it took me a while to realize that none of the pictures were of me. All the photos my mother had hung all over the walls were gone, replaces. As if they had always been there.

"I went to my bedroom, but that had changed too. It was turned into a game room for my father; a T.V., couch, recliners, mini fridge and his game trophies. My room used to have posters all over the walls and purple rug and shelves full of records. It was all gone. Of course, I started freaking out, checking the garage and the attic, thinking maybe it had been moved. None of it was there."

Quinn gasped. "Oh, my goodness."

Shoshana nodded. "Everything was gone. It was almost like I had never existed or was never a part of their life, or even their daughter. They blocked me out." Quinn bit her lip and her eyes rimmed in red. "So, I went to live with my aunt, who became basically my mother, I even call her Mom, and now she is Noah and Josephine's grandmother." Quinn's jaw dropped.

"And I never wanted it to happen to my children, so when one of them comes to me saying 'The girl I knocked up got kicked out. Twice.', I instantly get a soft spot. And I am so proud of you, Quinn. Such a beautiful and smart girl being so strong through all of this. You're like family now. You _are _family."

Quinn gave her a small smile, wiping the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand. "Thank you, Mrs. Puckerman."

"Shoshana," she said lightly. "Mrs. Puckerman with the mother. The actual mother."

The two of them laughed and hugged again, Shoshana stroking her hair. "Oh, Quinn, you're a special one." The teen smiled. "So, so special."  
~*~

At the airport, the three children looked at Shoshana, giving her sad smiles. "It'll only be for a few weeks," she said, hugging Puck. "I'm only doing the training, watching the other flight attendants and learning the ropes. Then, for the other week, I'll be on the planes." She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "Stop moping."

"We'll miss you, Mommy," Josephine said, clinging to her mother's legs tightly.

Shoshana belt down and picked her up. "Oh, I'll miss you, too, baby." She kissed her daughter's cheek before handing her off to Puck. Leaning down, she placed her hand on Quinn's baby bump. "Now, don't you go coming three months, okay, little baby? Don't flake out on me... And, you," she said, running her thumb across Quinn's cheek bone. "Don't let the baby come."

"I wont," Quinn said, hugging Puck's mother. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you. And, I love you."

Quinn smiled into her shoulder. "I love you, too."

With a sigh, they pulled away and Shoshana looked at them. "Alright, well, someone's supposed to find me before bringing me to the plane, so, I suppose that-"

"Are you Shoshana Puckerman?" a man said, standing professionally in a flight attendant uniform. She nodded. "Follow me, please." Mrs. Puckerman did, blowing them a kiss before she disappeared into a room.

"Okay..." Puck said, adjusting Joey on his hip. "Ready to go to home? My mom said we didn't need to go in today, she said she called us all in sick." Joey grinned. "Home?"

Quinn turned and faced him. "Not quite yet. Can we take a detour back to my own house? There's something I want to check."

When Puck pulled up to Quinn's house twenty minutes later, he gave her a worried look. "Why are you doing this?" he said quietly, since Josephine was dozing in her car seat. "I mean, how do you know they're not home?"

"I don't." His eyebrows were nearly touching each other in concern. "But, if I remember correctly, from six months ago, my dad works everyday and my mother plays poker on Thursdays."

His eyes widened. "Your mom plays poker? Really?"

"She's scandalous." Puck mumbled something incoherent but she ignored it, leaning across the center console, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing out of the car and shutting the door. "Come on, Fabray, you can do this," she whispered to herself, mentally preparing herself for the short journey across the street, up her driveway and to the walkway. The entry way door was open, strangely, but she noticed a package leaning against the door. It was in her godmother's, her aunt Kimberly's, handwriting.

Carefully bending down, Quinn picked it up, as well as the key that was kept under the welcome mat. When she stood straight, she heard a rattling and her brow furrowed together. "What could Aunt Kimberly possibly send my mother that would rattle?" she asked, tucking it under her arm.

With a sigh, Quinn reached out to stick the key in the lock. It was then that she felt her stomach drop for some reason, and it felt as though it were practically squishing her baby. Her hand began to shack and it was hard for her to breathe.

"You're just going him... People shouldn't be afraid to go home," she repeated over and over. "There aren't any cars in the drive, and Puck is across the street..." Quinn sucked in a deep breath. "Just do it."

Closing her eyes, she quickly shoved the key into the lock and pushed the door open. It swung open and hit against the wall a few times before it came to a stop. It was all dark and seemed to be exactly the way it was when she left. Sometimes, she thought her parents never changed and when she took a step in, she knew they didn't for the first thing she smelled was her mothers perfume, which made her chin wobble. It was a sweet smell, like berries with sugar and she started to wish her mother was actually there with her, standing with a warm and welcome smile.

So, Quinn entered all the way, shutting the door behind her. "The pictures," she mused aloud, putting the package on the table by the door and walking into the sitting room. The first thing that made her heart begin to beat was the baby picture resting against the lamp that was next to her father's recliner in the sitting room. It was in a gold frame and the baby was smiling up at her, a frozen smile in time.

Quinn picked up the frame and pressed it against her belly. "Maybe this is what you'll look like, baby." There was a kick. "Well, if you're rather look like your daddy, that's fine with me."

She put the picture back, making sure it was exactly as it had been, before pressing on. Along the hallway that led to the upstairs, she could see pictures of her and her sister, Melyssa, playing and laughing through out their childhood. On the stairwell, there were more pictures of her, like a document of her aging every year. It calmed her greatly, until she reached her bedroom. The door was closed, which wasn't a surprise to her. It they'd kept it her room, then they wouldn't want to look at it.

When she placed her hand on the doorknob, she felt like she was going to throw up. Her chest became tight and her mouth was drier than it had ever been. Even with deep breaths, she wasn't able to make the feeling go away. She just stood there, waiting for it to leave. After what seemed like an hour, but was only fifteen minutes, she slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

What she saw made her begin to cry. Her room was clean, with the floor vacuumed and her poster bed made. Everything she had to leave behind while packing was cleaned and neat, put back in their proper places. Her desk was rid of anything useless, like old papers, and she assumed they were in the drawers, where they were supposed to be. Her dresser was neat, with it's jewelry box closed, her perfumes put into a straight line and her makeup closed and it it's case. The drawers were shut, with no clothes hanging out. Everything was perfect, like it should have been. Perfect.

Quinn began to cry. She fell to her knees, her hands pressed to her cheeks in attempt to cool them and keep herself from crying. She sobbed aloud, her cries seeming to echo off the walls of her room. With one hand slipping to her belly, she leaned on the door frame, curling up and letting her tears fall with no shame, because there was no one around to hear.

During that time of her crying, Puck was across the street, tapping his fingers on the wheel as he tried to distract himself from knowing that she was inside her house, sneaking around even when they kicked her out. Sure, he'd be doing the same, maybe writing on the walls or breaking everything delicate or throwing eggs and toilet paper, but Quinn didn't do that. Especially to her expensive ass house. No way. So, what he was worried about was her going inside and finding her room, and wanting to stay, or hanging around until he went in and got her.

He was about to, too, until a black B.M.W. pulled into their driveway and stopped in front of the garage doors. "Shit..." he mumbled, pulling his cell phone and dialing her number. She didn't pick up. "Shit!" He woke up Josephine. "I'm sorry, baby... I'm trying to contact Quinn." He tired her again and this time she picked up.

"Hello?" Her voice was scratchy and weak.

"Someone's here," he said in a desperate voice, his eyes flicking around. She was quiet and he assumed it was being she hadn't heard him. "There's a car here, Quinn!"

She sniffed. "Yeah, I heard you."

"Yes. It's black and it's a B.M.W. and I'm pretty sure it's someone related to you."

There was a gasp at the other end of the line. "It's my mom..." His eyes widened. "Okay, bye."

"No, wait, Quinn-"

The line went dead and he scowled at his cell phone for her hanging up on him. But, instead of calling her back, he just looked out the rear window and watched as Quinn's mom, who was a total M.I.L.F., walked from her car and to the front door of the house.

Quinn slid her phone back into the pocket of her sweatpants. Standing up, she froze when she heard the front door open. It suddenly crossed her mind she couldn't just walk out the front door and leave. She was stuck in the house. With her mother there. And there wasn't any way for her to escape.

There was silence for a moment, then Quinn heard, "That's odd." She nearly cried at her mother's voice and Quinn remembered the package that was sitting on the table near the door. "Sweetie, are you home?" her mother called and Quinn, for a split second, though she was calling to her and almost responded, but then, she thought of her father, and silenced herself.

There were high heels on the stairs. Quinn's heart started pounding. She didn't know where to go. She didn't know where she could go. There wasn't a place small enough for her and her big belly to hide.

"The closet," she whispered, scampering across the room and to her old closet, which was well over big enough. She hid inside, sliding the door shut before looking through one of the panels. She could see everything and so she waited.

Only five seconds later did her mother walk past the door and stop, noticing it was open. She reached out, about to shut the door, but instead, she walked in and sat down on the bed. Mrs. Fabray ran her hand over the puffy bed cover, sniffing. In a matter of moments, she began to cry, her hand plastered over her mouth as the pathetic sobs escaped her.

"Mom," Quinn whispered it was almost inaudible. "I'm here."

The crying worsened. "Oh, my poor Quinn," her mother said through her sobs, covering her face with her hands.

Quinn shifted in the closet. Something small so she thought it would be silent, but it seemed like everything inside made a noise. Her mother's head snapped up, suddenly alert as she wiped the tears away from her eyes and cheeks. _Shit, _Quinn thought to herself, biting the insides of her cheeks. Her mother stood up and ever so slowly advanced toward the closet. Quinn started moving backwards, her back hitting the wall within two steps. Her hands were flat against the cool paneling, and she felt the small door that was placed inside her closet.

It lead to the attic. Not an attic really, just a spare room. It had two small doors on either side of it; one lead to Quinn's closet, and the other to her parent's closet. It had a door, a normal sized one, and for some reason, the builders thought it was necessary that there were two miniature doors connecting her parent's room and her room. She had never really understood why that was, or why it was never needed, but she didn't question it now, in her desperate time. Quickly, she squatted down, still facing the closet door. She could see her mother's high heels not far away. Without any care of noise now, she grabbed the little door knob that didn't move and yanked the door open. The whole was small, like the one that Alice in Wonderland had to crawl through.

"Yeah, but now she's pregnant," she mumbled to herself, getting on her hands and knees and scrambling inside, shutting the door silently just her her mother whipped the closet door open. She heard hangers hitting together. Quinn bit her lips, sitting with her back to the wall and her knees pulled up as much as they could be without squishing the baby, which wasn't much.

The closet door was shut again and she let out a terrified breath that was almost relief when everything fell quiet again. Slowly, Quinn made her way across the room, feeling her way with her hands until she got to the other little door; the one that lead to her parent's room. She could see a little bit of light coming in, since it was broad daylight, and with sweat beading on her forehead, she pulled it open. Her parent's closet was considerably smaller that her's, but it didn't matter. She just needed to get out of that house as quickly as possible.

They had a normal closet door, one that looked like a bedroom door, and she cursed them for doing that to her now, but she, in the most impossibly way, rested her head on the floor and looked to see if her mother had ventured inside. She hadn't, because she didn't see the high heels or hear any sniffling. Or even any noise.

Quinn stood up and slowly opened the door, poking her head out and checking to see if the coast was clear, just in case her eyes and hears had deceived her. There was no one around. As quietly as she could, Quinn crept out of the closet and out of the room. She could hear her mother still in her old room, sniffing and shuffling around. She tip-toed down the hallway, about to go down the stair case when the floor board creaked. Quinn winced.

"Who's there?" her mother called. "Hello, is someone there?"

The voice was getting louder and Quinn panicked, her eyes flicking around. The spare bedroom door was open and so she ran in, hiding on the floor behind the bed. Her mother headed right down the stairs, completely bypassing the spare bedroom. Pulling out her phone, Quinn sent a text message to Puck.

**Help me!**

Only ten seconds passed before she got a reply.

**How!?**

She thought for a moment, not sure how he could help.

**Distract. Bring Jo to the door. Pretend to sell something.**

Quinn heard a door slam and the some loud chattering from outside. Josephine's shrill squeal of excitement, Lord knows what for, rang through the air and came continuously closer until the doorbell rang. She got up from the floor and silently crept down the stairs just as her mother opened the front door.

"Oh, hello." Her mother's back was facing her and she saw Puck and Josephine standing there. They both had sunglasses on; Puck wearing his wayfarers and Josephine a pair of pink princess shades.

"Afternoon, ma'am," he said in a deep business tone, his hands held behind his back and his feet planted firmly on the ground. Josephine was standing the exact same way, but her lips were pursed tightly in a pucker, like she was glaring at Quinn's mother from behind her sunglasses. "My name is Angelo Enrique Valdez, and this is my assistant, Alejandra Carlotta Rodriquez."

Her mother's mouth fell open. "Well, she's quite young to be an assistant, Mr. Valdez."

"She's also my daughter." She nodded slowly and unsurprisingly disapprovingly, looking down at the young girl. "In any case... We are a part of the National League of Awesome Hispanics and we were wondering if you could answer a few questions for a survey."

Quinn stifled a laugh and began to sneak across the sitting room and to the kitchen. Josephine, still with a dead serious face, watched the blonde as she crept across, smiling and waggling her fingers before disappearing into the kitchen. Joey's look whipped back to the woman standing before her.

"First... Are you Hispanic?"

With a laugh, she said, "No, I am American."

"Why was that said with a laugh, ma'am?" he shot back, his voice suddenly dark.

Her mother was at a loss for words. "I... Well... I didn't mean to say it in that way..." Quinn, who was attempting to open the back door as silent as possible, but since is was such an old door, it seemed almost impossible. The door was louder than she was in the closet. "Would you excuse me for a moment?" she said to Puck and Josephine, turning on her heel and heading toward the back door.

With a shriek from Josephine, Quinn took it as a queue to get the hell out of the kitchen, so she dashed out, slamming the door and stumbling onto the porch. She made it around the corner just as her mother stuck her head out. Quinn was breathing hard, not used to running with a baby as well as having adrenaline pumping through her veins more than it ever had before. The door shut. She was safe.

She walked around the side of the house to the front, and hid near the door so she could hear hat was going on. There was shouting now, from her mother and from Puck.

"What is going on?! Why are you in my house?" Quinn slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Excuse me, miss, but you have no right to raise your voice at me!" Puck shouted back, his voice bellowing through the house.

There was some grunting and then a scream from Josephine. "Whoa! Whoa!" the little girl said, her voice ear piercing and nearly painful. "A-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah!"

Quinn, who was now laughing aloud, waddled down the driveway, not afraid at all to get caught. "Get off me, crazy woman!" Puck shouted as she crossed the street. "You know what? I am leaving! You are not aloud to be a part of our survey!" Quinn climbed into the car but didn't shut the door. "Alejandra, come with me!"

She turned around and saw them storming down the driveway, Puck clutching Joey's hand as they advanced toward the car. When they climbed in, they resumed faces of complete and utter calmness, which baffled Quinn. They didn't even start laughing or anything, they just got back into their seats and pulled out of their spot and down the road. No one said anything. Joey went back to sleeping and Puck just tapping his fingers on the steering wheel for a few minutes before he turned to Quinn.

"Your mother is insane."


	9. Chapter 9

**So... Yeah. It's all starting to happen, kind of.**

Rachel and Mercedes sat in the chorus room, side by side in the blue plastic chairs.

"This is so amazing," Mercedes said, taking Rachel's hand and squeezing it tightly. "You getting to be Juliet while Jesse is Romeo, oh, my God, girl, you're so lucky."

Rachel made a face. "Why am I lucky? Jesse hates me. At least he acts like he does."

She waved her hand as if dismissing the comment. "Please. It's perfect. You get to be close to him every day now. You've been wanting to prove to him that you're actually sorry and such, and now, here's your chance. You'll be practicing with him every and that will give your opportunities to show him how you feel."

"I guess..." Rachel said, shrugging slightly.

"No, I _know._"

At that moment, Quinn came into the choir room, still wearing her sweats and with no backpack on her shoulders. "Quinn!" Rachel said, patting the other seat next to her. "Where were you today? I looked for you at lunch, but you weren't there."

The blonde sat down and crossed her legs. "Puck and I had to drop his mother off at the airport," she said, running a hand through her hair. "Then, there was the rest of the day. We decided to go home and hang with his little sister."

Rachel and Mercedes looked at each other. "Where is his little sister now?"

Then, Puck walked in quietly, balancing a sleeping Josephine on his hip. Rachel and Mercedes awed, looking adoringly at the sleeping toddler. Slowly, Puck sat down, adjusting the little girl until the both of them were sitting comfortably. "Hello, ladies," he said, nodding to the three girls. They just stared back, still looking at Joey. "I know, she's adorable."

The girls laughed. "But, watch out. She's got Puck's personality. Quick with her answers and absolutely filled to the brim with sass." Puck grinned at her as the rest of the glee club filed into the room. Everyone instantly crowded around Puck and Joey, whispering about how she was adorable or the cutest thing they'd ever seen.

It was only when Mr. Schuster walked in did she finally wake up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Everyone awed again. "Alright, guys," he said, distracted as he looked at sheet music. "We're going to be starting a new song today. I just want to do it for fun, but I'm pretty sure we can actually do something with this." He looked up and stopped, staring directly at Joey. "Why is there a small child in my chorus room?"

The little girl grinned at him and waved her hand. "Hello mister! My name is Joey. I'm five years old, and Noah is my big brother!" she screamed, only silencing when Puck put his hand over her mouth. Leaning back, she whispered into Puck's ear, "What's his name?"

"That's Mr. Schue," he whispered back, playing with her hands.

Joey hopped off Puck's lap and marched over to the teacher. She only came up to his mid-thigh, but she shot her hand out, shaking Mr. Schuster's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Sneaker."

He laughed. "Mr. Schuster, honey," he said kindly, bending down to her eye level. "Joey, do you like to sing?" She nodded happily. "You do?"

"Yes! Puck and I sing together when we're cleaning up my toys. I know all his favorite songs."

Mr. Schuster looked up at the glee kids. "Guys, how would you feel about having a guest soloist today?" he said, grinning when they all nodded and when he looked back down at the five year old, she was beaming.  
~*~

The glee club was standing on the stage, all of them wearing light blue jeans and red tops with converse. They were standing in a line, doing in a capella introduction to the song Josephine had chosen.

Soon, the little girl's voice was echoing off the walls of the theatre, compliments of the headset mike they had set her up with, and when she began to sing, they all parted, as if her voice had made them explode.

_Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay_  
_My, oh my, what a wonderful day_  
_Plenty of sunshine headin' my way_  
_Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay_

Joey came walking down the big stairs they'd set up on the stage, wearing a dress dress with light blue tights and black converse, the five year old version of what the glee club was wearing. They had put her hair into pigtails with red bow barrettes clipped near the hair ties.

Puck stepped forward, standing next to his little sister and holding her hand, singing along with her. They walked across the stage as if strolling along a path and the big grin spread across the five year old's face.

_Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder_  
_It's the truth, it's actual_  
_Ev'rything is satisfactual_  
_Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay_  
_Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!_

She giggled quickly when Puck picked her up, spinning her around before balancing her on his hip. They stared out at Mr. Schuster, who was sitting at the table watching the siblings sing out to him.

_Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay_  
_My, oh my, what a wonderful day_  
_Plenty of sunshine headin' my way_  
_Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay_

Puck put Joey back down on the ground, holding her hand again as they danced in place, bouncing around and bopping their heads along with the music. Then, the whole glee club joined in, running to the edge of the stage and standing next to Puck and Joey, Rachel taking the little girl's other hand. They all dancing and sang, falling into a fit of laughter when the song ended.

Mr. Schuster started clapping and laughing along with them. "Haha, whoo! That was awesome, guys. Joey, you are welcome to sing with us anytime."

Puck high fived his little sister, giving her a bear hug and picking her up so her feet were dangling two feet off the ground.  
~*~

When the three of then got back to Puck's house that night, Puck gave his little sister dinner and whisked her straight off to bed for fear of her falling asleep in her Spaghetti O's. He tucked her in and set his guitar on his lap, strumming the strings softly as he sang.

_It seems like only yesterday_

_You were just a child at play_

_Now you're all grown up inside of me_

_Oh, how fast those moments flee_

_Once we watched a lazy world go by_

_Now the days seem to fly_

_Life is brief, but when it's gone_

_Love goes on and on_

_Love will live_

_Love will last_

_Love goes on and on and on_

_Once we watched a lazy world go by_

_Now the days seem to fly_

_Life is brief, but when it's gone_

_Love goes on and on_

When Puck's fingers stopped moving and he looked at his little sister, she was fast asleep, cuddling Ray the Firefly and Sebastian close to her. Her long, brown hair was flipped over her face and Puck pushed it to the side, leaning forward to kiss her forehead before walking quietly out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Quinn was waiting for him in the TV room, a light nightgown resting on her frame as she flipped absently through the channels in search of something to watch. Puck stared at her for a long time, resting the guitar against the wall as his eyes panned over her body. He thought, as he always did, that she looked sexy, the soft white fabric hugging her chest and accenting her baby belly and her hair thrown up into a messy bun with a few curls hanging loose.

"I know you're there," she said with a smile, looking over the back of the couch to stare at him.

A smirk curled in the corners of her lips as Puck gave her a sly smile, walking around the side of the couch and standing in front of her. She bit her lip when he put his knee on the cushion and leaned forward, hands gripping the back of the couch on either side of her as he slowly leaned his head down. Quinn giggled just before he kissed her and silenced herself as soon as Puck's lips touched hers. Her hands slid up his shoulders to cup his jaw, deepening the kiss as she sat up to push their lips together more.

Puck used his back to keep himself up as he released the back of the couch and grabbed Quinn's ribcage, lifting her off the couch and carrying her, bridal style, into his bedroom. "Puck, we can't," she said breathlessly when he playfully dropped her on the bed and moved to hover over her. "Your sister."

"Is asleep," he said between kisses as Quinn's hands pulled at the hem of his shirt.

"She could hear us."

"Disney's playing on a CD." Quinn successfully pulled his shirt over his head and threw it to the side as he pressed their hips together hotly. She was about to say something else but he said, "You just took of my shirt. Stop making excuses, because you know you want this, too. Now, shut up. And have sex with me."

She rolled her eyes. "Such a romantic proposal," she said sarcastically before Puck smirked and dipped his head down to kiss her again, and again, and again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten, everyone. **

**P.S. The version of Joey's song was the one done by Ali and A.J. Yay! **

The glee club sat in the choir room, waiting for Mr. Schuster, who was running extremely late. Almost twenty minutes had passed since their rehearsal was going to start, and he hadn't even popped his head in to say that he would be there in a few minutes.

"Do you think he's dead?" Puck said after a long time of silence, looking around at the people giving him raised eyebrows. "What?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Maybe he got called out because of family problems or something. Doesn't he have, like, the world's craziest wife?" she said, running a hand through her messy hair.

"I bet it was a meeting or something. They called him over the intercom to Principal Figgin's office after school, they're probably arguing about trying to get rid of the glee club, as usual."

"Agreed," Kurt said, carefully fixing his hair, which wasn't even out of place. "On my way here, I saw him in the office. Except there was a strange woman with him who I didn't recognize. But may I say, her outfit was stupendous."

Rachel huffed, annoyed. "People, Mr. Schuster is just late. I'm sure something came up with a solo he's going to give me and is having trouble deciding which one it is. He's just caught up right now."

Everyone groaned and she crossed her arms over her chest, making a high pitched 'Humph' noise. There was silence in the room.

"I still think he's dead."

"He's not dead… I saw him with the crazy blonde drama teacher…" They all looked up at Mike, who was sitting there with his ankles crossed, pretending to stroke a beard.

"What do you mean you 'saw him with the crazy blonde drama teacher'?"

The lanky boy slowly turned his head to look at Puck. "What do you think I mean, dude?" he said, sitting up straight. "I saw him—Mr. Schuster, obviously—in the hallway with the drama teacher, who is crazy and blonde. Ms. Jenson, you know who I mean? Always wears boots and has glasses?"

"Yeah, we know you're talking about but why would he be with her?"

Mike whipped his head to look at Quinn. "Oh, you don't know?" The blonde shook her head slowly. "Rumor mills are churning out some interesting gossip lately, and I'm shocked you haven't heard. Mr. Schuster and Ms. Jenson are having some kind of intimate relationship or something along those lines…"

Quinn snorted. "No… There's no way. Mr. Schuster is practically head over heels for Ms. Pillsbury; he wouldn't go for Ms. Jenson in a million years."

"Wanna bet?" Everyone turned to face him better, and to listen. Mike pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and went of the internet, searching for Jacob Ben Israel's blog. "It's all over the blog-o-sphere." He cleared his throat. "And as for the teacher gossip… 'Looks like guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury, has some competition. Former flame, Will Schuster, was seen with the new drama teacher, Patricia Jenson, at the most recent basketball game of McKinley's shooters, holding hands and sharing a raspberry Slushee…'" With a satisfied look on his face, Mike slid his phone back into his pocket. "And there you have it."

"I still don't believe it. How could be go from one person to another in seconds. Just the other day, I heard him talking to Ms. Pillsbury and it sounded like-"

Suddenly, the glee club heard footsteps in the hallway, and a bunch of shushing. "Be quiet, don't let them hear you," someone whispered, a giggle following. The giggle and the warning were made by two different people, and the club recognized the warning as Mr. Schuster.

"Why can't they hear me? It's not like I'm famous or anything…"

There was some rustling and more shushing. "I know, but I don't want them to see you yet," Mr. Schuster said, silencing the giggles coming from the woman. "Alright, I will… Just, wait here. I'll be back in a second." Than Mr. Schuster came walking into the room. "Sorry I'm late guys…I had to take care of a few things." The glee club looked at him with raised eyebrows, some of them crossing their arms over their chests defiantly. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Why are you late?" Rachel said, arching one of her eyebrows up higher.

"I told you, Rachel, I had to take care of some things."

"Or did you just have to see Ms. Jenson?" Quinn said as she dramatically crossed her legs at the knees.

Mr. Schuster looked at her with a shocked expression. "I… I'm sorry, Quinn, I don't know what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb, Mr. Schue. Come on, we know you were with her…"

"What? Quinn, what are you talking about?"

"That was Ms. Jenson outside the door, wasn't it? We all know that there's something going on between you two. Jacob Ben Israel's blog confirms it."

He laughed once. "Quinn, that wasn't Ms. Jenson outside." They all nodded slowly. "No, it wasn't." Some of the students rolled their eyes and other scoffed. "I'm telling you the truth, guys, it wasn't Ms. Jenson."

"Then who was it?"

The teacher looked to Mercedes. "If you really must know…" He turned toward the door. "Alright, you can come in now. They've guessed too much," he called, smiling when a woman walked in and stood by his side. She looked young, maybe barely past twenty. She was wearing a white sundress with a jean jacket over it and knee high boots on her feet. She accessorized in gold jewelry and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that bounced around when she wrapped her arms around his middle. "Guys, this is my baby sister…"

All the jaws dropped of the teenagers, the glee club looking at them with shocked looks on their faces. "Hey," she said in a friendly voice, waggling her fingers at the teenagers.

"But… You look nothing alike," Finn said, pointing between the two of them subtly.

The two of them smiled. "I'm, um, I'm adopted." Jaws dropped farther. "I'm one of those really rare kids who was adopted from inside the united states…" They all stared at her. "I'm Maeve."

"How _old _are you?" Santana said, giving the girl a slight look of disgust.

The brunette woman smiled. "Nineteen." While the girls silently groaned, the boys nodded approvingly. "So, it's, uh, nice to meet you and stuff…"

Mr. Schuster smiled. "Yeah, it's nice to meet my _sister, _not the _drama teacher,_" he said, annunciating the words and giving them looks that said 'What where you guys even thinking?'

"So… What's your fine ass doing here?" Puck said, leaning his elbows on his knees.

Maeve looked at him. "I'm unfortunately staying with Will while my boyfriend and I transfer to Ohio State University, but I know it's going to suck staying with my older brother Way to protective. But it's nice being back home for a while…"

Quinn's eyes widened. "Why would you ever want to transfer here? It's awful and depressing. There's, like, a fifteen people population in Ohio."

Will's sister laughed. "Well, he got an early job at a dentist office. They're only having him be an intern, since he's only a junior, but they're thinking of having him be the orthodontist there."

"You're boyfriend's a dentist?" She nodded at Puck. "Maybe you should leave him. I'm a football player. Must more impressive."

"And much more likely to not go anywhere in life," she shot back, smiling when Quinn hit Puck on the shoulder. "You must be Puck…" He nodded, pouting his lips in an attempt to be seductive. "Yeah, Will's told me _all _about you. This is your girlfriend, right? The one you impregnated on the first try?" she said, pointing to Quinn, who was sitting there, tapping her fingers on her arm and sitting there with a very pissed off look on her face.

In the corner, Finn cracked his knuckles, clearly bothered as he looked at the couple in front of him. But, Puck just nodded proudly, running his fingers through Quinn's hair once and leaning over to kiss her temple. "Then, maybe you should refrain from hitting on me when she's in the room, okay?" Puck smirked at the nineteen year old, but scooted his chair closer to Quinn, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "And, who else… You're Rachel, that one's easy…" The lead female vocalist beamed. "Let's see… Mercedes and Kurt, obviously… Then, Mike, Matt, and Finn… You two must me Santana and Brittany, and you're Artie, I know that. But… Wasn't there another?"

Mr. Schuster nodded. "Yeah, Jesse St. James. He's suspiciously gone missing the past couple days."

"I _told _you, he's sick," Rachel said, straightening her skirt as if it was common knowledge that Jesse was sick. "He came down with the stomach bug that's going around or something like that. All I know is when he finally answered my call to say he didn't want to speak to me, he sounded very sick."

Everyone's eyebrows rose and Rachel suddenly blushed, looking at the floor as if she hadn't said anything. "Alrighty, then," Maeve said, clapping her hands once. "Well, I can sense a lot of tension in this room, and I'm guessing it's all from me, so I'm gonna take off. Besides, I'm meeting Austin for dinner at BreadstiX…"

She and Mr. Schuster hugged then she waved at the glee club before walking out the door. "Order the Four Cheese Parmesan!" Mike shouted out suddenly and Maeve popped her head back in for a second to salute him before disappearing once again. The glee club looked up at Mike with their eyebrows raised and he just shrugged. "What? It had to be said…"  
~*~

That day after glee club, Puck, Quinn and Josephine marched into the Qwik Mart, armed with a shopping cart, a food list, tote bags and Shoshana's spare credit card. With Joey placed in the seat of the carriage and Puck clutching the food list, Quinn had a feeling this was going to be an interesting shopping trip.

"Do you know what you're doing, because I sure as hell don't…" Puck whispered, leaning close to her with a scared look on his face.

Quinn laughed once. "You look at the food list and get what you need."

His eyes widened. "How do you know where everything is though?"

"You look at the signs above the aisles." Puck looked up and his face took on an expression of surprise at the labels on the food aisles. "Haven't you ever been food shopping before? You're seventeen…" Puck shook his head 'No' and Quinn leaned on the railing of the cart to look at Joey. "Your brother is a sheltered child."

Joey nodded slowly, finishing the juice in her juice box before speaking. "He doesn't know who Justin Bieber is either," she said, handing the box to her brother, who was standing there, looking over the list. "It's very sad."

"I know who Justin Bieber is, Jo. I'm not that sheltered. I know music," he said defensively, smirking at her when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Can we just get this over with? This place is freaking me out?"

Quinn nodded and tucked some stray hair behind her ears. "What's first on the list?"

Puck looked at the list again. "Um, milk."

"Milk it is, then."

The three of them started going through the store, grabbing the essentials as well as some extra things, such as cookies, cans of soda, packets of Ramen, and, secretly, a box of Princess gummy snacks for Joey.

When the cart was nearly full, they stopped in the juice aisle, grabbing juice boxes for Joey for school.

"What kind do you want, sweetie?" Quinn said, letting the little girl survey the different kinds before pointing to Motts apple juice. "Good decision."

They started onward again, but then Joey's face lit up and she looked at Quinn. "Can we get Kool-Aid?" she asked, pulling on the sleeve to Quinn's dress. Quinn looked at Puck for the okay, but he shook his head, crossing a few things off the list. The blonde looked back to the little girl in the shopping cart and did the same. "Please!? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please?" she repeated, pulling on Quinn's dress each time.

"Joey, I said no," Puck said, walking up to her and flicking her nose lightly. "We're running out of room in the cart anyway… So, it's either you walk and we get the Kool-Aid or you stay in the cart and nice and relaxed and we don't get the Kool-Aid." The five year old made a face, crossing her arms over her chest unhappily. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Quinn, who was watching this whole transaction, began to push the cart forward again, leaning close to Joey. "Don't worry. We'll go shopping again later next week and I'll get you the Kool-Aid then," she whispered to the little girl, earning a smile.

"Hey, Quinn, watch where you're going!" Puck said suddenly, but not quick enough before the cart crashed into another one.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, I-"

Quinn looked up and froze, her eyes widening and her face drained of color. A terrified look took over her face and Joey looked confused when Puck wrapped his arm around her waist protectively.

"Quinn?" the woman said in a shocked voice, her face slightly lighting up.

The teenage girl felt like she was going to throw up. "Hi, Mom…"

The toddler's jaw dropped and Puck slowly reached up, pushing it closed. "Uh… Oh…" the girl said quietly, shifting in her seat to look at Quinn's mother.

"Quinn, it's so nice to see you. How have you been, dear?"

She nodded slowly. "I've been fine. This is Puck, and his little sister, Joey. We're just shopping for food, being responsible and stuff. I'm still pregnant, and you know, still on the rebound from being kicking out of my own home, but other than that, I suppose you could say that I'm dandy," she said in a sarcastic voice, gripping the railing to the shopping cart tighter. "And how have you been?"

Judy Fabray sighed. "Well, I've been fine. I'm just getting some things because your fa- Because Russell and I are having a small get together with the Kramers… But, there was one very strange thing that did happen a few days ago." She laughed once, covering her mouth with her hand. "In the afternoon, I had these two people come to my door. They were from the League of Awesome Hispanics or something strange like that. In fact, they looked a lot like your man here and his little… sister… Aren't you two the ones who-"

"Nope," Puck said, not letting her finish.

"Oh, but you _must _be because-"

"No, ma'am."

The older woman narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure. I could have sworn-"

But they were interrupted when an older man came walking up to them, tossing a container of cheese spread into their cart. "Judy, they didn't have the wine you wanted, but we can go back and-" He stopped when he noticed Quinn and Puck standing there, Joey still in the cart. "Oh, Quinn," he said in a dead voice, his eyes suddenly becoming dark. "Hello."

"Hi, Daddy."

"You can call me Russell," he said in a professional voice, bringing up his posture to tower over her slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Quinn bit the insides of her cheeks for a moment. "We're shopping for food… Russell," she said, swallowing the lump in her throat and ignoring how difficult it was to call her father by his name. "This is Puck, the baby's father, and this is Joey, his little sister."

"But, I thought Finn was the father?" her mother said in a confused voice.

She shook her head and her father nodded. "Of course Finn isn't the father." He turned to his wife. "Judy, we had better go. The Kramers are coming at seven and you haven't even started dinner yet."

"Oh, goodness, you're right, I haven't." They looked at Quinn. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Puck, and nice to see you Quinn," she said in a bright voice, giving them a smile before they walked off, chattering about which wine they should have instead.

When they were completely gone, Puck looked at Quinn, biting his lip nervously. Quinn just looked down at the list in her hands. "We need to get eggs," she said, the paper shaking in her hands. "And we also need snacks for Joey and school and some lunch meat for your football practice food as well as mayonnaise and ketchup, since we're all out of that. You didn't put it on the list, even after I told you to so it's lucky I remembered, but-"

She was talking a mile a minute but soon, her breath started to catch and she began to cry, falling into Puck's chest and holding his shirt in her hands. She sobbed into his shoulder, her tears soaking his shirt but he ignored it as he stroked her hair, shushing in her ear. "Shh, it's okay, Quinn, just take a deep breath, it's okay…"

"'It was nice to see you, Quinn'? 'You can call me Russell'? Who do they think I am, a stranger?" she said, her words muffled, but Puck could understand them. "They weren't even treating me like I was their daughter who they kicked out. It was like I was the child of a family friend who they hadn't seen in years!" she sobbed loudly, moving closer to Puck. "Who do they think they are?'

"Assholes is what they are, Quinn," he said in a frank voice, pulling away from her to look her in the eyes. "Look. Your parents are asses. They kicked you out of their house and treat you like this because they don't see how amazing you are. They also just lack common sense and don't see that they're being literally the words worst parents."

She nodded. "But they weren't even treating me like dirt. That I could have dealt with. But, being polite and acting like they didn't know me?" She shook her head. "Not dealing with it at all…"

"I'll say it again. They're assholes." Quinn smiled. "I'll shout it in you want me to…"

"No, no, no!" she said, but it was too late.

"They're assholes!" Puck shouted at the top of his lungs, getting some stares from passersby and Quinn covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. When he looked back at her, he was completely serious. Puck pulled her close resting his forehead against hers. "They're stupid, Quinn. They don't see how amazing you are and they can't see what they've lost because they blinded by stupidity."

After a moment, Quinn smiled and tilted her chin forward, pressing her lips against Puck's. He kissed her back, pulling her as close as he could to himself, tangling one of his hands in her hair. Just as Quinn slipped her arms around his neck, there was a scream from Joey. "Yuck!" she said, pulling roughly at Quinn's dress to pull them apart. "I don't wanna see you two kissing." With a smirk, Puck grabbed a Ritz crackers box, holding it in front of his and Quinn's faces so she couldn't see them. "I still know you're doing it!"

The two teens pulled away from each other, going to either side of the car, their hands placed on the metal sides. They bent down so they were at Joey's height and gave each other smirks. The toddler looked at Puck, then at Quinn before looking ahead. "Uh-oh," she said, just before they dove forward, planting a sloppy kiss on both of her cheeks. She scrunched up her face, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands clenched into fists.

"Ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ew!"

And then Puck and Quinn burst into laughter.

**Alright, tell me what you think. Review, review, review. :) **


	11. Chapter 11

** Aaaaaaaaaaand here we go with chapter 15. I hope you all enjoy. :) Also, this chapter's a little OOC with Rachel. I hope you don't mind. Puck brings out the best in her. **

After glee practice the next day, Rachel and Quinn were standing in the hallway, talking about Mr. Schuster's sister, who had paid another quick visit to rehearsal that day. "No, I bet she's actually a really good singer," Rachel said, running a hand through her hair. "Even if she's not _really _related to Mr. Schue."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, agreed. And she's really pretty, too. She reminds me of an actress, but I can't place who…"

"Blair from _Gossip Girl_," Rachel filled in for her, pulling chap stick out of her back pack.

"Yes, exactly!"

"She's _hot_," Puck said from behind the blonde and she turned around, hitting him lightly on the chest. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I am. Rachel's coming over, though." He arched his eyebrow at her. "Don't look at me like that. Currently, I'm the woman of the house, and as we live in a matriarchal household, I am saying she's coming over."

The two girls smiled and linked arms as Puck stood there, watching them as they walked away. "A matriwhosal whathold?" he said, following after them confusedly.

They all walked over to Puck's truck, climbing in and snuggling together on the front. Both Rachel and Quinn had squashed themselves onto the passenger seat and Puck rolled his eyes, pulling out of the parking lot as Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel for warmth. Puck could hear their teeth chattering together and he reached out, turning on the heat and angling the vents toward the two girls.

"I hope you two don't mind, we have to pick up Joey from a friend's house," Puck said, turning left at the town center, instead of right, which was how he usually got to his house from the school. They just nodded, unable to say anything. "Why is it that you two are cold and I'm not?"

"You're-r wea-aring t-t-wo-o j-jacket-ts," Quinn stuttered out, her teeth still chattering loudly. Rachel nodded again, agreeing with the blonde and Puck smirked, glad he had planned ahead in the morning.

Soon, they pulled into the driveway of Josephine's friend's house and Puck hopped out of the truck, leaving the heat on. He walked up and rang the doorbell, rocking back and forth on his feet until the door opened. A short boy with static-y hair was standing there, his shirt wrinkled as he looked up at Puck with wide eyes.

"Hey, Freddy, my man," Puck said, high fiving the toddler.

"Mah man," the little kid said back, his hand smacking against Puck's palm, which was bigger than the stretch of his fingers.

Puck laughed. "Your girlfriend around?" The blonde kid nodded then scurried off, his mother taking his place. "Hello, Mrs. Lewis. How was she?"

"Joey was good. She and Freddy had a snack when they got home, but she's been complaining about being hungry for the last half hour, so I think dinner is definitely a good idea when she gets home. She's also been yawning at least every five minutes," Mrs. Lewis said, looking down when Joey popped up from behind the tall woman's legs. One of the straps from her overalls was unbuckled and her pigtails were falling out of the elastics. "They also played wrestling for quite a long time. Your sister's quite the professional."

"I sat on Freddy's head!" she said proudly, putting her sneakers on as well as her coat.

Puck knelt down and fixed her hair as well as her overalls before laughing once. "Well, that's great, Jo, but, did you say sorry? Because you know that sitting on someone's head is only something you do when you absolutely need to."

Joey turned around and faced her friend. "Sorry, Freddy."

Puck nodded and then picked Joey up, balancing her on his hip. "Better… Well, thanks for watching her, Mrs. Lewis."

"Anytime," Mrs. Lewis said, giving Puck and Josephine a big smile. "Have a good night."

"You too." Puck looked down at Freddy. "I'll see you tomorrow, my brotha."

The two of them high fived again. "I'll see you tomorrow, too, mah brotha."

And then Puck and Joey turned around and headed back to the truck, where Rachel and Quinn were talking in the front seat. Puck set Joey in the back seat, waiting to close the door until she had secured herself in her car seat. Once he was in the driver's seat, he turned the radio on and pushed a CD into the slot. Instantly, a mix of Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and other Disney songs came on, and Joey started singing along in the back seat.

"What are we going to have for dinner?" Quinn asked, her stomach growling along with her words. "I'm starving."

Puck pressed his lips together as he thought. "Hmm… Well, it's gotta be vegetarian, right, Berry?" Rachel nodded, pushing her hair out of her face. "Why don't we just order Chinese? That way Quinn can have all her foods and there's still some vegetarian stuff, too."

The two girls nodded. "Sounds good to me," Rachel said, bouncing her head along with _Goin' Down The Bayou_, one of Ray The Firefly's songs.

All of a sudden, a high pitched scream filled the car, making Rachel and Quinn slap their hands over their ears. "Whoa!" Puck said, the car jerking to the side slightly when her scream flew into his ears. "Hole crap! Josephine, stop screaming." The car suddenly fell silent and Puck pulled over to the side of the road, putting the car in park. He turned around and faced his sister, who now had tears trailing down her face.

She was sobbing loudly, managing to say, "I forgot Ray," as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand sloppily.

"Where did you have him last? Freddy's house?" She nodded. "Then we'll go back to Freddy's house, okay? Just stop crying, baby."

But, she continued to cry, shrieks occasionally filling the car. Her face was turning gradually more and more red and soon Puck climbed out of the car and opened her door, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. Then she reached her little arms forward, hugging her brother as she cried into his shoulder.

"Hey, baby, are you gonna be okay?" She sniffed and looked up at him. "Can you calm down for me?"

After a moment, Joey nodded and Puck kissed her forehead before he got back in his seat, looking at her in the rearview mirror as her sniffling quieted and she started hiccupping. Puck looked at Quinn and Rachel, but they were just having a quiet conversation about how the baby had just kicked, Puck giving them an unnoticed grateful look as they made a U-Turn and drove back to Freddy's house. Soon after she calmed down, Joey went back to singing the Disney songs as if nothing had happened and as if she hadn't just thrown a temper tantrum while they were on the road. Only fifty seconds of _A Whole New World _played before Puck found himself singing along.

_A whole new world_

_ A dazzling place I never knew_

_ But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear_

_ That now I'm a whole new world with you_

Rachel and Quinn looked at each other for a moment, but then shrugged and sang along with the two siblings.

_ Unbelievable sights, _

_ Indescribable feelings_

_ Soaring, tumbling, free-wheeling _

_ Through an endless diamond sky_

Suddenly, Puck made a sharp turn into Freddy's driveway and put the car in park, running up to the door. "We seem to have forgotten a very important firefly," they heard him say to Mrs. Lewis as soon as she opened the door. They saw her smile and reach next to her, producing the Ray the Firefly plush, which must have been sitting right next to the door. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll see you tomorrow."

Puck jogged back to the truck and climbed in, tossing the firefly to Joey, who smiled and hugged it tightly. "Are we all set now, or did you forget Sebastian there too?"

"Sebastian is at home," she said, buckling Ray into the seat next to her, making sure he was secure. "Okay… We can go."

With a salute, Puck pulled out of the driveway for the second time and headed home, this time without any interruptions at all.

At seven o'clock, after eating her dinner in front of the TV as she watched Pocahontas for the millionth time, Joey was asleep in her bed, tucked tightly under her Little Mermaid bed set. The three teenagers had waited to eat until she was asleep, and so with the cartons of Chinese food, a two liter bottle of Fanta, and a six pack of IBC root beer, they all gathered together in the TV room, _The Simpsons _playing quietly in the background.

As Rachel dug into her chicken free Lo Mein and Puck and Quinn chowed down on General Gao's Chicken, Puck looked up at the small brunette. "Sorry about what happened in the car," he said, taking a quick swig from the root beer bottle.

Rachel waved her fork at him before twisting some noodles around it. "Don't worry about it. It was no big deal."

"Joey does things her own way…"

"What do you mean?

"It's not like she has any social or emotional issues or anything, but whenever she feels like doing something, she'll just break out into a certain emotion." Rachel nodded slowly. "So, I just wanted to apologize. It's kind of… embarrassing."

Rachel's eyebrow rose. "Why is it embarrassing?'

He shrugged. "Well… It doesn't really matter where she is or what the situation is. If she wants something or needs something, she'll just break down. And I know that happens with a lot of toddlers, but it takes a lot more to calm her down that it usually does for other kids. Once she gets something in her head, it takes a lot of effort to be able to calm her down."

"I know how that is."

Puck shook his head. "No, you don't."

"I do… I used to take care of my cousin. He had autism and so it was harder for him to be around other kids and get along with them. Whenever he wouldn't get something he wanted, he would just cry and cry and when you tried to calm him down to talk to him, he would try to hurt you. Like, he would scratch you or he would throw his toys at you." She pulled out a root beer and opened it, taking a quick sip. "But, I don't babysit him anymore."

Quinn sat forward. "Why, did something happen to him?"

Rachel's face fell. "Um, yes," she said quietly, looking at her carton of vegetarian Lo Mein. "Probably the worst thing that could happen to a little kid…"

"What?" the other two said together.

She looked up at them, and in a sorrow filled voice, she said, "He got older."

Puck looked at Rachel for a moment, then burst out laughing. "I approve of that, Rachel, well done." He tipped his bottle toward hers, making them clink together. "Highly approve."

The two of them lifted their bottles to each other and Rachel smiled. "Well, thank you," she said before the two of them drank from the root beer quickly.

Quinn smiled, watching as Puck and Rachel, for what seemed like the first time since they broke up, got along and were actually joking around with each other. She started at Puck for a moment, then Rachel. The two of them were just sitting there, laughing, before Rachel put her noodles on the coffee table and reached for a container of spring rolls.

"Hey," she said, getting up from the couch and going to the bookshelf that they had that was piled with DVDs. "You, uh, like horror movies, Puck?" Rachel smirked, scanning the three entire shelves that Puck had completely dedicated to scary movies.

He nodded, cutting an egg roll in half with his fork and shoving half into his mouth. "Mm-hmm…" he mumbled around the roll. "I love 'em." Rachel smiled and sat back on the couch. "What about you?"

She laughed. "Are you serious? I would die if I couldn't see a scary movie again."

Puck's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, _really_." Rachel nodded once, pulling a DVD off the shelf and reading the back. "Who directed the _Scream _series?"

"Wes Craven."

He nodded once. "Very good… In _Nightmare on Elm Street, _what was the name of the killer, and what did he use?"

Rachel snorted. "That's _easy_. Freddy Krueger, and he had gloves with knives on them."

"In _Carrie, _how did she kill her mother?"

She sat back down on the couch and picked up a carton of spring rolls. "She did the St. Joseph crucifix and nailed her to the wall with kitchen knives."

"I am impressed." She shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. "What do you like better, Scream or Friday the 13th?"

"Scream, all the way," she said, taking a bite from a spring roll. "No question about it."

He nodded. "Why?" he asked, taking the spring roll she had offered him.

Rachel licked her lips as the thought, taking another bite of her food. "Because, it's more like… Instead of a possessed person or someone who's gone crazy, it's just people trying to get revenge for the awful life they had…"

"Very true. Like it was said in the forth one, 'It's not zombies or aliens or little Asian ghost girls."

"'There's something real about a guy with a knife who just… snaps'," Rachel finished for him and he smiled. Puck turned and held out his fork to Quinn, which had beef and broccoli on it. She leaned forward and took the bite just as he said. "Scream order?"

"I don't know... I like the forth one… I think the order for me would be, like, tie for first and fourth, then second and third."

Puck nodded as took another sip from his soda. "Mm, agreed. But you know what I like?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Nightmare on Elm Street."

"Ooh, me too."

He grinned. "You know… I think I've got the Nightmare movies in my room somewhere. If I find them, care to watch?"

Rachel grinned. "Do you even have to ask?" she said and he smirked, getting up from the couch and walking down the hallway to his bedroom.

After a moment, Rachel looked over to Quinn, who was staring at her, mesmerized. "Wow, Rachel," she said, giving her an approving look. "I'm impressed."

"What?"

"Aside from me, Puck has never had anything in common with a girl before. All the relations he's ever had with someone were sex. You actually talk to him."

The brunette scoffed. "That is _not _true. I'm sure Noah has other things in common with other girls." Quinn shook her head. "Well, whatever."

Quinn laughed. "Seriously, you talk to him, Rachel. Doesn't happen often. Or ever, really."

"It's true," Puck said, walking back into the room with the DVDs in his hand. "Next thing you're going to tell me is that you're obsessed with Call of Duty and Halo." Rachel looked at the floor, then up at him, blushing slightly. "Wait, you're _actually _obsessed with video games?" She nodded. "I think I just found my new best friend," he said as he put the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie into the DVD player, turned off the lights and settled himself on the couch. "Alright, let's start this thing," he said, turning the TV on and grabbing a random carton from the coffee table and opening it. "I love this movie."

Rachel leaned into the couch. "Agreed."

Quinn looked at them both. "You guys scare me."

Puck snorted. "Ha, of course we do, Quinn. It's our job."

"Just promise me one thing, Rachel." She looked at her friend at the other end, who was running a hand over her baby bump. "Promise that you won't turn into a female version of Puck."

At first, Rachel was silent, and when the TV screen turned black, she let out a menacing laugh. Then, Freddie Krueger's face flashed onto the screen and Rachel had a dark look on her face as she stared at Quinn. "Too late."

Quinn looked terrified. "Oh, God."  
~*~

In glee rehearsal the next day, the glee club had gone back to talking about Mr. Schuster and Ms. Jenson and the relationship in question.

"Do you really think Mr. Schue would all of a sudden go for her, after he and Ms. Pillsbury broke up?" Mercedes said, pushing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Who knows," Santana said as she sat down next to Brittany. "He's Mr. Schuster. And he just got out of being in an awful marriage to the town's craziest woman. Don't you think he'd try to go for as many women as possible to try to make up for all the years of meaningless sex he missed?"

Quinn rolled her eyes as Brittany spoke. "Maybe she's selling him hair gel. Or turtles."

"Really? Turtles?"

"Why not?" she said to Puck, twirling her hair around on her finger.

Puck sighed. "Why do we even care about this anyway?" he said, his wrists resting on the back of his chair as he sat in it backwards. "It's not like it affects us in anyway."

"That's where you're wrong my friend," Mike said from one row up, and Puck tilted his head up to look at the lanky boy in front of him. "If Mr. Schuster starts to have another woman, instead of Mrs. Crazypants, then _he's _going to change. When he was with his old wife, that made him wicked uptight. It was like someone stuck a fire poker up his ass that no one was allowed to remove. Ms. Pillsbury, for the short time they were together, made him try to fix everything because he was trying to fix her. Imagine what Ms. Jenson will do to him. It'll be freaking doomsday."

Tina looked up at him. "Why is that?"

Mike crossed his ankles and stroked his chin. "Mr. Schuster is used to being in charge. So is Ms. Jenson. Soon, it'll become a battle between them, and whenever he's around us, well… That can only mean that we're the punching bag and he's the boxer."

"You can't _possibly _know that. Maybe that won't happen… Maybe they'll get along," Quinn said to him, readjusting her headband.

Finn, who had been silent for most of this conversation, finally spoke up. "I say we just stay out of it. We don't even know if they're dating."

"I bet they are," Kurt said, taking off his top hat and placing it on the toe of his shoe as he crossed his legs at the knee. "I've been wondering whether or not they would, and I think it's about time they did, just so they can realize that it's the stupidest idea ever."

Mercedes shook her head. "I completely agree. They wouldn't work together, even if you ignored the fact that they would try to control each other. It would be like oil and water."

"Can't we just let it go?" Puck said, letting his head fell onto his hands.

Finn sighed. "Yeah, I agree."

"Fine… We'll just stay quiet and not talk about it," Kurt said, facing forward, as did the rest of the glee club.

Everyone mumbled something in agreement and they all did their one thing, Mercedes and Kurt filing their nails while Quinn and Puck started texting Rachel to see where she was. It was silent. They could all hear the clock ticking. After a while, you could hear Santana quietly count the seconds, starting all over again when a new minute started. Finn was wrapping a strand of string around his finger tightly before unwinding it. Matt started tapping out a drumbeat and next to him, Mike was playing Tic Tac Toe with himself on the tips of his Converse sneakers in Sharpie. Brittany started humming the Tellitubbies theme song.

"But, what if they are dating?" Kurt finally said and everyone groaned, complaining.

Then, all of a sudden, Rachel came running into the choir room, a flustered look on her face. She wasn't wearing her flats, they were being clutched in each hand, as well as now crumpled sheet music, and she was as wide eyed as a deer in the headlights. "You guys… You'll never guess what I just saw," she said, standing in front of them by the piano, which she had put her shoes and papers onto.

"What did you see?" Mike said, patting the plastic chair in the center of them all.

Rachel went and sat down, everyone turned to face her as they leaned in to listen. "Well, I was walking down the hallway on my way to glee club…"

_Rachel was walking down the hall to glee club, humming _You Can't Stop The Beat _softly to herself as her flats pattered on the linoleum floor. She was absentmindedly shuffling through the sheet music she had in her hand, not really paying attention to her surroundings as she rounded a corner, but then she saw two shadows and quickly, she backed up, hiding behind the wall. _

_ "You've got to be quiet," an all too familiar voice said as he shushed the woman who was giggling softly. "You never know who could be here." _

_ As slowly as she could, Rachel subtly popped her head around the corner to see who it was. She couldn't see faces, but she recognized those suede boots anywhere. "Listen, Will, I've got to take off. I have some casting to do, but what if we met later for dinner?" _

_ Rachel's jaw dropped and she silently gasped as she continued to watch. "Definitely. I've got some papers to grade after the glee practice is over, so why don't we meet at Hamilton's for a very late, romantic dinner?" _

_ The woman's silhouette nodded and leaned forward to press her lips against the now confirmed Mr. Schuster's. "Of course. I'll see you then." _

_ Then she broke away and revealed herself as Ms. Jenson as she walked toward where Rachel was standing. _

_ "Oh, dear," the teenager whispered to herself, and then she took her flats off and ran silently, in her socks, the same direction she came in, taking the long way to the choir room so as not to cross paths with the secretive couple who had, right in front of her eyes, become not so secretive anymore. _

"Oh, my God…" Quinn said, her eyebrows raising. "I can't believe it… They're actually together."

Mike nodded. "So, it is true, ladies and gents… So. It. Is. True."

**I'm not sure what to say about this chapter. It's a chapter that's needed obviously, but it's neither cliffy, or bad in the sense that something bad happened, or good in the same sense as bad. I just don't know what to say. Review though, and tell me what you think. **


	12. Chapter 12

That Friday, Puck, Rachel and Quinn sat in the choir room waiting for glee practice to start. Quinn had her nose buried in a Nicholas Cage book. Puck and Rachel were discussing the recent horror movie they had seen. Rachel was arguing that it was one of the most terrible horror movies she had ever seen, but Puck was saying otherwise.

"How can I convince you, Rach, that _Psycho_ is a perfectly respectable horror movie?"

"You simply can't." Puck groaned and smacked his hand to his forehead. "I have to admit, I scare easily when watching horror movies, especially ones about spirits and such, but _Psycho _honestly did not frighten me a single bit."

Puck turned to her. "But, it's one of the greatest horror movies of all time!" he said, gripping the back of his chair. "It was the first horror movie ever made, Rachel! You have to give it credit for that."

"And because it's so old, it was not horrifying or scary in any ways that it should be."

"You jumped during the shower scene, Rachel."

The brunette flicked her hair over her shoulder. "No, I didn't."

"Rachel, listen to me," Puck said, turning in his chair to face her fully. "_Psycho _is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. It was done my Alfred Hitchcock. You can't beat that, okay? This movie, no matter how old it is, will always be a classic."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. "It may be a classic, but it's a classic that didn't scare me a single bit."

Puck threw his arms up in the air. "I give up. There is no convincing you, honestly."

"Well, _honestly_, there is no need to convince me. I know it's one of the greatest horror movies of all time, I really do. What you're trying to do, Mr. Puckerman, is convince me that I was scared, when I wasn't. If you think it was that scary, then that is evidence that you were scared, weren't you, Noah?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Now, you wait just a minute, Ms. Berry. I have every reason to-"

"I hate to break this up," Mercedes said as she walked into the choir room with Kurt following behind her, "but, today we are discussing something more important than horror movies."

"What could possibly be more important than horror movies?" Puck said as more of the glee club came filing in behind the two of them.

"Mr. Schuster," Kurt said, sitting in front Puck and on one side of Rachel, since Quinn had claimed the other side. "We're talking about him and Ms. Jenson? Remember?"

Puck frowned and ran a hand over his Mohawk. "Um, no?"

"Well, we are."

Santana inspected her cuticles. "Who of us cares that Mr. Schuster is banging the drama teacher? Why should we care?"

Mercedes and Kurt stared at her. "_Because_," they said at the same time. "Mr. Schue will go bat-shit crazy if he doesn't get with the lady who _is _bat-shit crazy."

"That doesn't make sense," Matt said, sitting down in the only plastic chair left.

"Of course it makes sense," Mike responded from his spot on the radiator, where he had is legs crossed in the lotus position and his hands on his knees, pointer finger tucked under his thumb and his other three fingers splayed out. "It all makes perfect sense..."

Puck turned around and stared at his friend. "And who are you to say whether or not it makes sense?"

"I'm Mike Chang. I can see things that none of you can-"

"Yeah, like scary magical unicorns. Seriously, dude, you need to stop smoking pot," Puck snapped.

Mike opened his eyes and glared at his Mohawked friend. "Excuse me... You are not one to be talking, sir. I do not let myself fall under influences of drugs, alcohol or any such nonsense because it is bad for your brain, and your brain, as we all know, is the most important thing in your body." Puck grumbled something no one could hear. "But, in any case, we are talking about Mr. Schuster and Ms. Jenson, not torturous drugs."

"Right," Mercedes said. "We know that Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury are in love. It's obvious. And even if it's not with Mr. Schuster, it is with Ms. Pillsbury. She walked into our _Rom & Jul _rehearsal and you could see she was more than upset about the fact that Mr. Schuster and Ms. Jenson were kissing. If we don't do something about them, then Mr. Schue will be done for."

"And what do you mean by that?" Quinn said, finally looking up from her book.

Rachel turned to look at her friend. "Have you seen the way Mr. Schuster has been acting recently? He hasn't _once _talked about Regionals for almost three weeks and the only thing he's had us work on is an idol assignment, which I'm pretty sure has been forgotten about." Everyone in the room nodded something in agreement to her statement. "Not to mention he's getting rather distracted lately. First, being late to rehearsal because of Ms. Jenson, then calling off rehearsal when she asked him to go to a meeting with him."

"Yeah, but, Rach, that was a school meeting; he had to go to that."

"He wouldn't have if she hadn't reminded him."

Santana, who was still looking at her nails, scoffed. "I say we just don't meddle in it. It's not our business and I'm pretty sure no one in this room except you, Mercedes and Kurt are the only ones who give a fuck, dwarf." Rachel frowned. "Just pull your overly stuffed head back into your world of show choir and heinous skirts so we can all get back to our own lives, would you please?"

Rachel gasped, but instead of one that was offended, it sounded rather sarcastic. "Oh, and you said, 'please'!" Santana was about to say something, but Rachel continued. "Look, if we don't do something about Mr. Schuster, then we won't have even a _chance _at winning Regionals, and isn't that what we've been working toward all year?" Everyone who had been arguing with her looked at the ground. "Regionals is important to all of us, I know that. Do you want to ruin your opportunities or do you want to help Mr. Schue and have him help us instead of going to the competition as unprepared as possible, which is as close to sending a lamb to the slaughter as we can get?"

Artie had been quiet for most of this interaction and finally he spoke up. "I agree with Rachel. Glee club is all any of us have-"

"Not all of us," Santana said in a snide voice.

He turned his wheelchair to face her. "Shut up, Santana. Glee club is more of a family than the Cheerios will ever be."

Quinn smiled at Artie. "Here, here."

"And, if we want to win Regionals, then we really need to work hard. We used to be close as a family and we've fallen apart recently. If we want to get closer together, then we need to work or it, together, as a team."

"Artie, I couldn't agree more!" The entire glee club jumped in their seats when Mr. Schuster came walking into the room with a giant pile of papers in his arms that he looked like he couldn't handle. "We need to work our butts off if Regionals if something we are setting to win."

The glee club mumbled things to themselves and they slumped in their chairs. Everyone except Rachel. "Actually, Mr. Schuster, that's something we all wanted to talk to you about." The Spanish teacher frowned. "We think, respectfully of course, and you definitely shouldn't take this as something personal because we do love you and care about you. We want what's best for you which is why I say that..." Mr. Schuster raised his eyebrows expectantly. "We think that Ms. Jenson is distracting you. You've changed since you started dating her."

Mr. Schuster put his pile of papers down in the piano and walked around it so he could face them. "How did you guys know about that?"

"Well, for one thing, you openly kissed her during our play rehearsal..." Mr. Schuster let out a sigh and closed his eyes painfully. "And, on my way to a rehearsal about a week ago, I stumble upon you two in the hallway."

He nodded. "I see. None of you were supposed to find out about that-"

"You kind of blew that one, Mr. Schue," Puck said, resting his elbows on his knees.

"-But, no matter who I'm with, it is not your place to address personal matters, especially with me, someone who teaches you."

Mercedes adjusted her blue fedora. "But, Mr. Schuster, we're only trying to do what's best for you, and for the glee club..." she said in a rational voice, leaning forward slightly. "Things have been different around here since you got together with her. Rehearsals have been canceled, cut short and nothing at all has been done about Regionals, which is only in a few weeks, like Rachel said."

"It was so different when you were with Ms. Pillsbury."

"What does Ms. Pillsbury have to do with any of this, Rachel?"

The petite girl held her own hands tightly in her lap. "Well... When- When you were with her, everything seemed so much simpler when you two were together..."

Mr. Schuster started rummaging through the papers he had brought in. "I think it's time that this conversation ends, don't you? Why don't we focus on what I have planned for today's rehearsal?"

"Oh, we're actually having a rehearsal today?" Finn grumbled form the corner.

"Hey, watch it, Finn," he suddenly snapped, pointing a pencil in the direction of the football player. "I am telling you all now, you're being disrespectful and completely unfair and unreasonable to me. We're a family, aren't we supposed to support one another?"

"We are, Mr. Schuster, but you're not doing so whenever Ms. Jenson is involved!" Rachel said as her voice grew upset.

Mike stepped up from the radiator and sat on the riser that was behind Rachel. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Jenson is distracting you, Mr. Schuster. Ms. Pillsbury kept you going. It was right with her... You should be with Ms. Pillsbury."

"Now this conversation is really ending. I don't want to hear any more about this, guys. We're starting rehearsal. Now."

"But, Mr. Schuster, if you would just listen to us, then-"

"Enough!" the teacher shouted, causing Rachel to shriek when he interrupted her as he slammed his hands on the enormous stack of paper, making the sheets slide out and scatter across the room. "I am sick and tired of this! I don't want to hear any more, do you understand? This ends now."

The entire glee club fell silent and looked at the ground. Mike's hand found it's way to Rachel's and he held it tightly in the most comforting way he could. He could see tears forming in her eyes. Mercedes and Kurt looked like someone had kicked them in the chest. Everyone else was quiet.

"Rehearsal is over. You can all go home."

Instantly, everyone shot from their chairs and started packing up their bags without a word just as Jesse walked into the choir room. "I apologize for being late. I had to deal with something important involving school." He noticed everyone was packing their bags. "Are we going to the theatre?"

"Rehearsal's over, dude," Matt said as he passed. "Yoda and his droids couldn't keep their bleeps silent."

"Told you it wasn't a good idea," Puck mumbled to Rachel, who had a single tear rolling down her face that he didn't notice.

"Shut up, Puckerman," Mike said, putting both hands on Rachel's shoulders. "None of us knew this was going to happen, don't blame the grasshopper."

Despite her sadness, Rachel laughed at Mike's words and felt a little better. Puck nodded and apologized to her. Rachel hugged him quickly before linking her arm through Quinn's. The three of them walked out of the choir room and headed to the parking lot. As they all shoved themselves into the front seat, Quinn patted her belly, which, despite the baby inside, was feeling rather empty.

"You know something?"

"What?" Puck said in a distracted voice as he pulled out of the school parking lot.

Rachel turned to her friend. "Are you hungry?"

Quinn grinned. "I vote Gray's Pizza place..."

Puck let his head fall on the steering wheel for a split second. "Why do you have to eat all the fucking time, Fabray?"

"Because. I'm hungry." The two others raised their eyebrows at her. "Now. Give me food!"

**I hope you all liked it and that you REVIEW because it makes me feel awesome and snuggly inside. :) **


	13. Chapter 13

After Puck and Quinn dropped Rachel off at her house, the two of them drove back home in a comfortable silence as their fingers linked together. Puck drove with one hand. He was getting used to that, driving with one hand. He was getting used to having Quinn around.

Puck definitely knew that he could admit to himself, he was starting to like her. A lot. He liked the way she looked in the morning with her hair all mussed and falling out of her bun. He liked the way she smelled, like laundry detergent and berry shampoo with a faint hint of perfume. He liked the way she dressed herself in the morning, staring into the full length mirror in the bathroom at her well-thought out outfit before shrugging her shoulders and not caring what people thought. He liked the way her laugh lingered in his ears, even hours after her giggles had died down. He liked the feel of her skin against his, in any way.

He liked the way she was, the way she lived. He liked her.

"What are you thinking about?" Quinn said, her fingers tightening around his and Puck snapped out of his daze to look at her. "I know you're thinking about something… What are you thinking about?"

"You," he admitted honestly, giving her a smile when her cheeks flushed a rosy pink color.

Quinn bit her lip. "What about me?"

"The things I like about you." She turned her head to look out the window as Puck started reciting all the things he'd just thought about, and much more until they got home. He pulled into the driveway and looked at her, their hands still linked together. "I like you a lot, Quinn…"

"I like you, too."

Puck leaned forward and kissed her softly, his fingers grazing along her collarbone. "Good."

She laughed that laugh that rings in his ears before the two of them climbed out of the truck and walked into the house. Joey was already there, being looked after by Lily. "Hey, twerp," he said when the little girl launched herself at him as soon as they walked through the door. "How was school today?"

"Freddie brought in pudding and shared it with me. It was our first date."

Puck nodded once. "Okay, I can roll with that." He took her hand in his. "What's this on your finger?"

"My engagnament ring."

His eyebrow shot up. "You have an engagement ring? You're getting married?"

"I told him that I wasn't gonna have pudding with him if we weren't married. We settled on engagnament."

"Good for you, kid. Show him whose boss," he said as he kissed her forehead and lowered her to the ground. "How was she, Lily?"

The woman, who had just come out of the kitchen, smiled. "She was wonderful. We played games, she had a snack at about three and she's ready for dinner. I got it started, but it's not finished. She said she wanted chili."

He nodded. "Yeah, I can finish that, no problem. Thanks for watching her."

Lily pulled her coat on and kissed Puck's cheek. "No problem. Anytime." Hugging Quinn, she said, "Will I be picking her up tomorrow, too? Her daycare ends at two, correct?"

"Naw, we're staying in tomorrow. Neither of us have anything we need to do tomorrow, so she doesn't need to go. We're gonna have a family day."

"You're welcome to join us," Quinn said, hanging her jacket in the closet and taking Joey from Puck.

Lily smiled. "Sounds wonderful. I'll see you tomorrow."

Then, with another hug to everyone, she walked out the door and headed down the sidewalk to her house. Quinn put Joey down when her cell phone started ringing and she pressed it to her ear. "Hello?" she said after her phone rang only once.

"Jesse was just here."

Quinn leaned against the wall. "He was? What happened?"

She could hear Rachel pacing from the other end of the line. "He brought me back all of my things. And I gave him all of his. He was upset I was giving back his CareBear, but he was giving me back Panda Jesse, so I thought it was only right. I ended up keeping the CareBear, and he kept Panda Jesse, but after that exchange, it was weird. I was acting quite cold to him."

"Cold how?"

"Pardon my French, but everytime I spoke to him, I was acting like quite a bitch," she said, sounding like she had spooned sorbet into her mouth. "Every comment was rude, and sarcastic. It was the complete opposite of me. When he left, he seemed quite upset."

"Well, this is a strange turn of events."

"What does it mean?"

Quinn pinched the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she crossed her arms. "Well, I could tell you, but you're probably not going to like it."

"I think I can handle it..."

"... Okay... Well, first of all..."  
~*~

Puck and Quinn were sleeping in his room, their legs tangled together, when they were awakened by a crash.

"What was that?" she mumbled, leaning back on her elbows sleepily.

"Don't know." He kissed her forehead and climbed out of bed. "You stay here," he said, crossing the room.

Quinn snorted. "Like hell." She followed him out of the room, checking on Josephine before continuing down than hall. "Well, Joey proves that someone can sleep through anything," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder and yawning. "I'm sure it was nothing; let's go back to bed." Just then, there was a thump from the front porch that made them both jump. "Puck!" she whispered, clutching his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

After a moment, he slowly pulled away. "I think it's coming from out here…" Puck walked toward the door, looking through the peep-hole. He flinched, his face completely pressed to the door, and his hands stretched out on the wood. "Holy shit," he said, wrenching the door open. Quinn slowly walked over to Puck, her mouth falling open when she saw what Puck had seen. Leaning against one of the posts holding up the porch roof was Jesse St. James, his shoulders hunched over and his legs sprawled out in front of him. An empty liquor bottle was rolling out of his hand, stopping when it hit the legs to a wicker chair. Puck walked over to him, grabbing his curly hair and lifting Jesse's chin up.

"Ha, the dude's passed out cold," he said, letting his head drop. Puck reached over and picked up the bottle of Jack Daniel's. "A wise choice for his first drink."

"How do you know it's his first time?"

Puck laughed. "Just look at him... What do you think he's doing here? Why has this mother fucking straight edge been drinking so much that he would find himself on my porch?"

Quinn leaned against a post that held up the porch roof. "Rachel called me earlier. Said he stopped by her house to return some valuables of their relationship. Apparently, she acted like a real bitch." Puck's eyes widened. "Her words, not mine. Anyway, she said he left the house looking quite upset."

"That wouldn't surprise me. I've seen Rachel in bitch mode and believe me, it is not something you want to experience."

"During our entire phone conversation, she would suddenly interrupt me to say, 'He's driving by the house.' He did that ten times in the hour we were talking."

"This dude, even though they're broken up, is hooked. No doubt about it."

Just at that moment, Jesse shot up, smacking Puck's face in the process. "Don't mess with me, bitch." Puck jumped to his feet, advancing toward him. "Back away." Jesse held his hands up defensively, like a ninja. "I know ka… ra… te…"

"Oh, Jesus," Puck said as Jesse's face started to droop down like he was passing out again. His hands fell limp and Jesse started to fall forward, getting caught by Puck whose arms were hooked under Jesse's. "What just happened?" Puck asked Quinn, struggling to support Jesse. The blond shrugged. Puck dropped Jesse on the floor.

"Don't drop him!" she said, instantly kneeling down to see if he was okay. Puck waved his hand once, dismissing it. She looked up at him, her hands resting on Jesse's back. "What should we do with him? We can't leave him on the front porch…"

The football player thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers, pointing guns at Quinn. "We'll call Chang and Rutherford. They are somewhat of an expert in the field. They'll know exactly what to do…"  
~*~

It was twelve thirty when Mike and Matt pulled into Puck's driveway. They were both in their pajamas; Matt in Ms. PacMan pajama pants and white t-shirt, Mike in gray sweatpants and a black Superman shirt, the sleeves cut at the shoulder seems.

"This better be important, Puckerman…" Matt said sleepily, rubbing his eye as he got out of Mike's car.

Puck nodded. "It is…" The two boys walked up to the porch with tired looks on their faces. Puck pointed at the floor, at Jesse, and suddenly Mike and Matt were wide-awake.

"What's he doing here?" Mike said, kneeling down and picking up Jesse's head, looking at his drooping face.

Quinn and Puck both shrugged. "We have a hypothesis that it has something to do with Rachel," she said, leaning against Puck's chest. "They had a messy encounter today. Must have resulted in this sorry mess." Mike nodded. "We didn't know what to do; Puck said to call you, so I did."

The two boys nodded. "Okay, well, first things first; we have to get him inside." Puck walked over, helping the two pick him up; Matt was gripping his ankles, Mike and Puck each holding an arm while Quinn supported his torso. "Alright, let's go," Mike said with a strained voice as they all began to shuffle into the house, struggling to get in the door. Ten minutes later, they had managed to get in the house and had set him down on the couch. The four of them were now staring at him, their hands on their hips.

Quinn was the first to speak. "Now what?"

Mike sighed. "We should probably wake him up, try to get him to barf up the alcohol…"

Puck nodded. "Yeah, and how are we going to do that?" Mike chewed on his lip. "Should we like, pour cold water on him or something?"

"Naw, man, that never works… Only in movies and shit." Puck scoffed, rolling his eyes. "We could hit him… Quinn, smack him in the face."

"I thought you two were supposed to be, how did Puck put this? Oh, right... 'Experts in the field'," she said, putting all her weight on one foot and crossing her arms over her chest.

Matt and Mike started laughing, holding onto each other for support. After a minute, Mike wiped away tears. "Quinn, we _do_ know about stuff like this. Now, seriously, smack him in the face." She raised an eyebrow at him. He nodded, putting his hands in prayer position and tapping his fingers a few times. "Go on," he said, nodding once to Jesse.

Her eyebrow arched even higher. "Mike, this is ridiculous. I'm not hitting him." The three boys crossed their arms over their chests and looked at her expectantly. "Well, if we need to hit him to wake him up, why doesn't one of you do it?"

"Because, Quinn." Mike wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You're a woman. Manly men such as Puck, Matthew or I can't bitch slap a boy without losing his dignity. Now, as a beautiful girl who has slapped many men in your time, you are as dignified as any woman could be… Why not step up your dignity a bit more, and hit this poor, drunk, unconscious boy to wake him up?"

Quinn tried to hold back a smile, but failed. "I'll feel guilty…"

Matt stepped up next to Mike. "Quinn… You are an undignified pregnant hag who doesn't know how to sing, dance or be a mother. You're fat." Her mouth fell open and without thinking, she grabbed Matt's collar in her hand, smacking the other one against his cheek. The boys smiled. "Do you feel guilty?"

"Well, no, but that's because you called me a fat hag and a bad mother…" Puck, Matt and Mike stood next to each other, their eyebrows raised and expectant looks on their faces. "Fine, but if I have to slap him-" She pointed to Jesse "-Then I get to slap all of you," she said, poking each of their chests.

She lifted her hand up like she was about to hit Mike and he squinted his eyes shut, but at the last second, Quinn missed and turned around, kneeling in front of Jesse on the couch.

"Wait, you're not going to do it now?"

"Of course not!" she said as if they were supposed to know that. "I'll wait until I find the time appropriate. Just wait…" She lifted up Jesse's chin. "I hate all of you."

Then, she whacked Jesse in the face with a loud 'slap.' She dropped his chin and for a moment, nothing happened but then, his eyes flickered open. "Whoa!" he screamed, rubbing his cheek. "Preggo, you've got quite the slap, there!"

"Oy, dude, you've gotta be quite. People are sleeping…"

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

Quinn placed a hand over his mouth. "I think we should—Ah!" She wrenched her hand away, wiping it on the seat of her pajama pants. "He licked me."

The four of them looked at Jesse, who was sitting there, toying with his bottom lip and giggling mischievously, completely proud he'd licked her hand.

Puck made a disgusted face. "This dude is a lost cause…"

"He's drunk, Puck," Quinn said, leaning against the wall. "Well, now what, Michael?" She planted her hands on her hips.

The lanky boy cocked his head to the side. "We need to get him to throw up. Or eat something. It'll get rid of what could make him more drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" he shouted, wavering from side to side, his lids getting droopy.

"No, no, no!" Mike nudged Quinn. "Hit him again. He's getting tired…"

She sighed. "Maybe we should just let him sleep it off?" He shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Let him sleep. When he wakes up, he'll be fine."

Jesse's eyes popped open. "I'm not tired! I'm wide awake!"

"Shut up!" Puck said, smacking him on the back of the head. "My sister's asleep."

Mike looked over his shoulder. "Not anymore," he said, bending down to pick up the grumpy five year old.

She slapped her arms across her chest, pouting her lip angrily. "Noah, I'm mad at you."

"I know, baby. I'm sorry." He took her from Mike, balancing her on his hip. "But, I didn't wake you up, he did," he said, pointing to Jesse.

The five year old turned her head to stare at him. She took one look then leaned her chin on Puck's shoulder. "What's the matter with him?" Puck bit his lips and his forehead creased sadly. It was the same look he'd given Joey over and over when their father had drinking. "Is he drinkin' the stuff Caleb used to drink?" He nodded sadly, letting the girl down when she squirmed out of his arms. Slowly, carefully, she approached Jesse on the couch. "Hello," she said quietly, holding her hands behind her back and looking up at him with angelic eyes.

It took Jesse a minute to realize who'd said that, but finally he saw Josephine standing in front of him in a giant argyle sweater that must have belonged to their father and bright pink leggings. "Well, hello, unusually small child." She held her hand out to him in a hand shake, but the sleeve was longer than her arm. Jesse shook the arm hole. "I'm Jesse…"

"My name is Josephine and I'm five years old… I'm smarter than most people my age. My teacher says I'm ultra-intelligent. I skipped kindergarten and I'm in first grade wif people two years owder than me…"

Jesse nodded his head slowly. "Impressive. Muck, did you know you're little sister's a genius?"

"It's Puck," he said, wrapping his arms around Quinn's waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

The drunk teenager waved his hand carelessly, blowing a raspberry. "What. Ever."

"So, what's wrong wif you?" Joey said, planting her hands on her hips.

Jesse looked at her. "Small and genius child, I am heartbroken. The woman I love has crushed my heart and soul and she is not apologizing for it."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Oh, dear Christ."

The five year old nodded slowly. "I see… Wanna play Barbie's?"

Jesse gasped. "Yes!"  
~*~

"And then, Rachel made a music video using your brother and her best friend, instead of just me," Jesse said, fumbling to use all the necessary Barbie's to tell the story. "And now, Rachel and I, though once happy, are apart," he said sadly, making the Ken Barbie and the brunette Barbie walk away from each other. "And it's very sad. I want Rachel to apologize but that's not what's happening. I even went to her house today. They ended up a big flopping mess. And I don't know what to do about it anymore, so I resorted to alcohol."

Joey, who was chewing on the ends of her hair, sat up straight. "What you need a juice box, not acloholly." She ran into the kitchen and got to apple juices from the fridge. "I promise, they're better." She handed one to him, taking the other for herself.

Jesse took a sip. "Yeah, it does help, but it doesn't solve my problem with Rachel," he slurred, tapping her on the head with Malibu Ken, who was supposed to be him.

"This is going to be a disaster," Puck whispered to himself as the four other teens eavesdropped from the TV room, while Jesse and Joey were in the living room, her Barbie's spread out around them.

Mike shook his head. "You have to have faith, Puck. Joey is a genius baby and not just in the sense that she skipped a grade. She's a ninja toddler. She religiously watches Disney movies. I bet you ten bucks that she'll be able to fix Jesse's problem and make a Disney reference to support her argument. About Aladdin."

"Twenty," Matt shot in. "And it'll be about The Little Mermaid."

Quinn snorted. "Thirty for the Princess and the Frog, no question about it."

They all looked at each other, then shook hands. "You guys are so sad," Puck said, looking at the three of them.

Mike just waggled his finger at him. "Have faith."

Puck rolled his eyes, but fell silent as they continued to listen. Joey was quiet for a while, chewing on her straw. "Did you ever think about listening to Rachel?" she said after a long time. "Wheneva I get in trouble when I'm at school or at Freddy's house, they make us be quite. One person tells what they fink happened, then the other person does the same fing." Jesse blinked at her. "So, maybe you gotta do that wif Rachel."

Jesse took another sip of juice. "But… I don't want to do that. I just want her to apologize."

"Yeah, but you'll looking at what you want, not what you need."

"Definitely Princess and the Frog," Quinn whispered, looking at the two boys.

Joey continued. "In The Princess and the Frog-" Quinn smirked at them "-There are two people who get turned into frogs. And the rest of the movie, they go and try to find Mama Odie who can help them turn back human. When she asks them what they need, Tiana says they need to be human because Tiana wanted to open a restaurant and Prince Naveen wanted to be rich again. But, Mama Odie says that's what they want, not what they need. And in the end, they stay frogs because they realized what they needed was each other."

Jesse's brow furrowed. "So… Am I Tiana or Prince Naveen?"

"Prince Naveen."

"Why?"

Joey took a long sip from her juice. "Because. Prince Naveen wanted to be human for his own selfish reasons of being rich again. You want Rachel to apologize for your own selfish reason of making her sad because you didn't forgive her right away. Rachel is Tiana because she's trying to do what's the right thing in trying to get what she wanted." She sipped at her juice again. "Duh."

Jesse was quiet for a long time as he sipped slowly at his juice box. "That makes sense, I suppose…"

Joey nodded. "And, what even happened was Prince Naveen tried to get them to be human because he cared so much about Tiana so he wanted to be able to get her the restaurant."

"How does that fit in with me and Rachel, though?"

"What you need to do, because you realize how much you love Rachel, is that you need to go farther to get what you need, which is to talk to Rachel about what happened. So you are the one who needs to say, 'We need to talk about this'."

The two of them were quiet, just the sound of emptying juice boxes filling the air. Suddenly, Jesse spoke. "But, what happened in the end? Did they stay frogs? Because I don't want to be a frog."

"No. They became human again because they did the right thing. They got each other and they got what they wanted, too."

"I see…" Joey nodded. "You know, that was surprisingly insightful for a five year old."

The little girl shrugged. "I'm smart."

Then everything fell silent. The four other teens strained their ears to see if they were whispering, but they heard nothing. After ten minutes, they all got up and walked into the living room. Jesse and Joey were lying on the ground, pillows piled up around Jesse that Joey was lying on, her head on his stomach as a pool of drool gathered on his shirt.

"This is impressive," Mike said, crossing his arms over his chest. "She helps him figure out his problem, references a Disney movie to do so, and she got him to go to sleep." He turned to Puck. "I swear, your sister has, like, magic powers."

Puck smirked. "No… She's just a _really_ smart toddler." He wrapped his arms around Quinn. "And you guys owe my woman sixty bucks."

Mike and Matt looked at each other, and then groaned.

**Please review! I know this chapter is kind of fast paced, but I worked really hard on it! And I'm in the middle of my hardest class, not paying attention, so you KNOW I'm dedicated! REVIEW PLEASE!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, here's fourteen. :) **

When Jesse woke up the next day, he found himself in a place he had never seen before with an enormous headache and a toddler playing a board game with herself singing quietly next to him.

"You're awake," a familiar voice said and Jesse lifted his pounding head to see Quinn standing in front of him in a pair of pajama pants.

Jesse groaned and supported himself on his elbows. "Where am I?"

"Puck's house," she said, handing him a glass of water and three tables of aspirin before lowering herself onto the couch.

"Why?" he responded after downing the entire glass.

Quinn's hands rubbed her belly softly. "You were on his porch." She reached to the side table next to her and picked up an empty Jack Daniel's bottle. "This," she said, handing it to him, "belongs to you."

Jesse looked at the bottle in his hand, the entire night flashing back into his mind. "Oh… I licked your hand, didn't I?" She nodded once. "And I played Barbies with this kid, didn't I?" Another nod. Jesse sniffed the air a few times. "Do I smell bacon?"

He carefully pulled himself up from the floor, jumping slightly when a little hand slipped into his warm palm, but he then just smiled down at the five-year-old next to him before she lead him into the kitchen. The boys were already sitting around the table, waiting for everyone to join them. When Jesse, Quinn and Joey sat down, everyone helped him or herself to the breakfast food and ate in silence. It was a relatively quite meal, except for when Joey would plunge through the silence and spin a tale about her school, or reenact a scene from a Disney movie.

Breakfast, however, ended as quickly as it started and soon, Jesse was standing in the front entryway with the four teens and five-year-old staring at him. Joey was hanging on Puck's back, her head on his shoulder as she gave Jesse a sad look. Quinn handed him a travel sized bottle of aspirin for the road.

"Listen," he said, his hands in the pockets of his jean jacket, "I really appreciate you guys taking care of me last night, but if we could keep this quiet from everyone, I'd _really _appreciate it."

The four of them nodded, giving him a chorus of, 'Oh, yeah, sure,'

"Especially Rachel."

They fell silent. "You can keep this a secret from her, right?"

Mike was the first to speak. "Leave it to us," he said, leaving the question unanswered, which Jesse seemed to accept. With a grateful nod, he walked out the door and begun the trek back to his house.

"We're gonna tell Rachel, right?" Puck said, shutting the door behind him and allowing Joey to slide off his back.

Mike shrugged. "Maybe. We'll have to see."

"We can't just _not _tell her that Jesse showed up on my front porch, completely drunk off his face and complaining about his relationship with her."

"Well, we could, it just wouldn't be nice to keep such a big secret."

Mike put on his Converse sneakers without tying the laces and stretched his arms until his fingers were touching the ceiling. Then, stroking his chin, he began to pace back and forth between the kitchen and living room.

"What are you doing?" Quinn said when he started mumbling to himself.

"If we don't tell Rachel, there are a lot of different outcomes. She could flip out and it would be very disastrous. We would all die in an explosion of loafers and argyle sweaters," he said, looking studiously at his shoes. "Or, she could just be angry and the definition of Hulk Smash would be applied to a short chick in knee socks. But, maybe she'll take it well, so well, in fact, that gold stars will burst from her ass."

"Why would she he happy about this?"

Mike stopped momentarily to stare at Puck. "Because, then she knows that she's not the only one suffering." He gave him a look as if to say, 'Duh'. "Or, she could be totally passive about it. Then, things would be the way they are now." He stopped and picked up Joey off the floor. "Or, what if she totally freaks the hell out and melts into a puddle like the witch in the Wizard of Oz? What then, Joey?"

"According to my studies," she said, her voice taking on a philosophical tone, "the witch didn't melt. She hid in a trap door."

"What studies are these?"

Joey sniffed once, then sneezed. "Watching _Wicked_."

Mike frowned, still holding the little girl at arms length away from him. "Why didn't you alert me of these studies?"

"Not enough time."

He nodded once. "Acceptable. So, what do you suggest we do, oh-wise-one?"

"Aladdin."

"Is that code for some kind of heroic game plan?"

Joey shook her head once. "No."

"Then, what is it?"

"I'll show you, if you put me down," she said, looking at the three feet of space between her dangling toes and the floor.

Mike lowered her to the ground and she ran into her room, coming back a few seconds later with the DVD of Aladdin in her hands. Josephine slipped it into the player and sat them down on the couch, handing the four teens paper and pencils.

"Take notes," she ordered, fast forwarding through the commercials, "on the important things."  
~*~

"Made'ja look," the Genie said before the credits started to roll.

Joey paused the movie with the remote that seemed to be bigger than her entire arm before getting up from the floor and facing them.

"Okay," she said, standing in front of them, her own paper and pencil with a Troll doll on the end in either hand. "What do you have? Quinn?"

The blonde looked up from her rapid scribbling. "Um, lies can build up and build up, but even so, you can look past them and love the real person underneath?"

Joey made a face. "Close, but not exactly… Matt?"

"This is the only realistic movie, animal wise."

Puck frowned. "Care to elaborate?"

"Well, in other movies, animals like birds or mice can do anything that they never could do because they are unintelligent. But, monkeys are smart. More realistic for Abu to help Aladdin steal a melon than it is for Gus-Gus and Jack-Jack to sew Cinderella a dress."

"Hey," Mike said pointing his pink pencil with a pompom on the end in his friends face. "Don't knock Cinderella." They began bickering back and forth between each other, occasionally shoving them in the chest.

Joey clapped her hands once. "Boys! Focus! This is not the place for violence." They silenced themselves. "Noah?"

"Aladdin's a thief, Jafar is a perv and Jasmine's a whore. Everyone in the movie has problems."

His little sister rolled her eyes, said nothing, and moved on. "Mike, what do you have?"

He glanced at his notes and his drawing of Maleficent and Ursula having a bitch fight over who gets to Marry Doctor Facillier, who was already having an affair with Mother Gothel. "Um, let me see… Hm… More lies will save your ass for the time being until the truth absolutely has to come out?"

Joey looked disappointed. "And to think, I thought you would understand."

They all slumped in their seats.

"Let's take a look back at the tape." She rewound until they were at the scene were everything crumbles to the ground. "Watch closely."

They all watched as Jafar was turned into a sultan and that Aladdin discovered he didn't have the lamp. "Genie! Stop!" the TV shouted as Jafar laughed menacingly.

"We will never bow before you!"

Jafar became a powerful sorcerer. Raja meowed. He started singing. "_Prince Ali, yes it is he, but not as you know him. Read my lips and come to glimpse at reality. Yes, a blast from the past whose lies were too good to last. Say 'Hello' to your precious prince Ali!" _

Jasmine on the screen looked confused as Aladdin tried to explain, but he didn't get a chance as Jafar separated them and slapped Aladdin in the face. The peasant boy was set into tower, which soared into the air to a place so far away from Acraba, it was snowing. The Genie just looked away.

Joey paused the movie and looked back at them. "So?" None of them responded but they all looked like they were thinking. "Nothing?"

"I got it!" Mike shouted, making them all jump. "Don't give the power to creepy guys with sketchy goatees or they'll go crazy and turn themselves into a snake!"

The toddler collapsed to the floor, her limbs spread out beside her. "Did none of you watch?" They all muttered something incoherent and she shot into the air. "Don't keep secrets that could hurt other people, other wise old men will end up naked, secret keepers will be sent into the snow and Lima will be placed on top of a mountain by a big, blue guy in handcuffs!"

"Oh," the teenagers chorused at the same obvious answer.

Mike stroked his chin. "So, we tell Rachel?"

Joey shook her head. "No. Jesse tells Rachel."

"Why?"

She smacked her hand to her forehead, rewinding the movie without even looking. Aladdin was pacing back and forth, debating whether to tell Jasmine or not. "Because it's the right thing to do," Joey said in a soft voice, placing her hands on her hips.

Mike looked mind blown. "How are you this smart? You're five."

"I watch a lot of Disney movies."

"But, Disney movies hardly contain real messages unless you really take a step back and look at them."

"Hey, don't knock Disney movies," she giggled, mocking him.

"Most kinds don't catch stuff like that."

She giggled when Puck snatched her into a hug. "I'm not like most kids."

He snorted and tickled her stomach. "Yeah, you got that right!"

** So, there you go. The stories are completely switched. Now, time to work on the other one, which is ACTUALLY called Total Eclipse of the Heart. **

** Again, I'm sorry about this whole thing, but the story was becoming Quick centric, and we can't have that, if it's a St. Berry fic, so I changed it up. **

** Don't judge. Review instead. :) **


	15. Chapter 15

** I am going to try to start updating every Sunday, by the way, guys. I'm working really hard on the five stories I have, plus other ones in my head that I cannot silence, to matter how much I try. **

** Here's chapter 15. **

Quinn had come to learn that breakfast would always be a struggle in the Puckerman household. Joey was a picky eater. Puck was a pig. She wanted to eat healthy, but hadn't gotten to eat much at all. When Shoshana was there, she would just slap some cereal on the table and call it a day.

It became something she would dread every morning, and this one was no different.

She woke up the alarm and climbed out of bed, leaving Puck there to sleep for an extra five minutes while she set up the little girl's breakfast. Joey didn't like eggs, or toast, or pancakes, or cereal. At least, not for breakfast. She usually wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or croissants with Nutella, or raspberry Danish.

But, not today. When Quinn woke her up and hauled her out of bed, Joey slumped in Quinn's arms and mumbled something about a grilled cheese. She fell back asleep against Quinn's shoulder for the short trip to the kitchen. Quinn but the girl in one of the chairs and tickled her chin softly to wake her up.

"What do you want for breakfast, munchkin?" she whispered, kissing Joey's forehead and running her fingers through her hair softly.

"Grilled cheese?" she asked, jutting her lip out into an over exaggerated pout. Quinn's shoulders slumped. "Please?"

Quinn sighed once, but smiled and pulled the fridge open, taking out the butter and cheese and bread. "You can have grilled cheese, but just this one time. You need to start having breakfast food, munchkin."

As she put a pan on the stove and turned on the heat, Puck came tromping into the kitchen, his sweatpants hanging low on his waist and causing Quinn to bite her lip to keep from grinning seductively at him.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked with a yawn, sitting down next to the toddler.

"Grilled cheese," Quinn answered, buttering the sides of the bread and placing it in the pan.

Puck groaned. "Can't we just have some bacon and eggs and be done with it?"

"If you want to make yourself the bacon and eggs, then, by all means, do, but I'm making this girl a grilled cheese," Quinn said, putting the bread in the pan and pouring a cup of juice for Joey that had a screw on lid for no spills. "The stuff is in the fridge."

He got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around Quinn once she had handed the toddler her juice. "Come on, baby… Make your baby daddy breakfast."

"I'm not a maid. You're seventeen years old, you can make it yourself."

Puck's grip on her loosened as he looked at her from behind. "What's the matter?"

"I make you breakfast every day, Puck. For once, why don't you make it yourself?"

"Because I take care of Joey, and you, twenty-four seven and I get tired."

"I carry around your baby twenty-four seven and I've been taking care of Joey more than you have lately. I wake her up every day, and leave you in bed to sleep more, I make her breakfast and then make you breakfast, leaving my own meal for last because you two come first, take her to daycare while you take your sweet time getting ready for school, I go to school, pick her up from daycare so you can go home and play your video games, give her a snack, play with her until dinner, make dinner, get her in her bath and makes sure she actually takes it before having World War three to get her into her pajamas and reading her five books that I read day after day after day until she falls asleep. _Then_, I am able to do my own homework and get to bed by eleven. And trust me, with all that I have to do, that isn't enough sleep if I have to be awake by six. So, don't say you take care of me and Joey. Because I do."

Puck rolled his eyes. "What-fucking-ever. I'll make my own damn breakfast."

Quinn put the sandwich she made for Joey down on the table. "Damn straight you will, you pig. Don't talk to me until you're ready to step up," she said, storming out of the room and down the hallway to Joey's room to pick out an outfit for daycare. She grabbed some overalls and a light pink sweater, placing them on the bed with a pair of white converse high tops. "Joey! Come get dressed, it's almost time to go!" Quinn shouted as she crossed the hall to her own bedroom to dress herself in a mediocre outfit of jeans, a t-shirt and flats.

She could hear the little girl pattering down the hallway and into her room, where she started dressing in the clothes that Quinn picked out for her. Joey appeared in Quinn's doorway as the teenager was pulling on her jeans and said, "I'm ready."

"Okay, munchkin, go put on your outside clothes and grab anything you need for daycare, and we'll get going, okay?"

Joey nodded and disappeared and Quinn finished dressing. She grabbed her backpack of the bed threw it over her shoulder after she'd pulled on her jacket and grabbed her car keys. Joey was sitting in the entry way in her black jacket, hat, and mittens with her Lion King backpack on her shoulders as she sat on the floor, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

"Go say goodbye to Noah before we go," Quinn said, pointing to the kitchen where Puck was now preparing his breakfast. Joey shot from the ground and scampered into the kitchen.

"Bye, Jo," Puck said loudly as the little girl squealed. Quinn could only assume he was swinging her around in circles. "Have fun at daycare. Don't get into trouble. Not too much."

"Bye, Noah." There were some hushed tones before Joey came back into the entry way holding a Tupperware container. "We can go now," she said happily, following Quinn out to the teenager's Volkswagon buggy where she buckled herself into her car seat in the cramped back of the car. "Noah said to give this to you," she said, reaching forward to hand the Tupperware container to Quinn.

The blonde took it and opened the top, her nostrils getting assaulted with the smell of eggs and bacon. "Did he say why?"

Joey shrugged as Quinn pulled out of the driveway and toward Joey's daycare center. "He said was gonna have a 'nola bar instead."

A small smile twitched in the corner of Quinn's mouth. Puck had given her his breakfast instead of eating it himself. She was usually the one to snag a granola bar from the cabinets before she left for school.

"Thank you, munchkin," Quinn said softly, putting the food in the passenger seat to sit there until they got to the daycare place.

The two girls got out of the car and walked hand in hand to the building covered in a flourish of colors that made it look like a rainbow had sneezed on it. When they got through the doors, Joey shrieked and flew from her spot to tackle a little boy sitting on the floor. The two of them wrestled for a moment before Joey managed to pin him down as she sat on his stomach. The boy, who Quinn recognized as Joey's best friend, Freddie, kicked his legs a few times. Joey leaned down and touched her nose to his. Freddie's leg kicking ceased. The two of them giggled at each other before getting up and running to a play castle in the corner, big enough for five year olds to play in easily. They instantly engaged in a game of prince rescues princess from the dragon.

Quinn smiled to herself and turned to the woman who ran the center. "Hi, sorry we're late. We had a mishap at breakfast."

Mrs. Taylor waved her hand once. "Oh, please. Anastasia isn't even here yet, and most of the children are too pooped to do anything."

"Good. I should be here to pick her up at four."

"Excellent. Freddie's mother said that you would be picking up Freddie today, as well?"

"Yes, we are. The two of them are supposed to have gymnastics today."

The women chatted for a few more minutes before Quinn called Joey over to say good-bye and that she'd be there at four, so make sure she's ready. Joey nodded and hugged Quinn quickly before scurrying back to her game. Quinn flipped her keys around on her finger once before heading to her car to go to school. On the way, she had the Tupperware balanced on her stomach as she drove with one hand so she could eat.

When she got to school, she pulled into her assigned parking space and threw the car in park. Across the lot, she could see Rachel climbing out of her car. Quickly, Quinn grabbed her backpack and threw it over her shoulder as she waddled across the asphalt to her friend. "Hey," Quinn said to the brunette when she caught up to her in the hallway. "How are you? I didn't hear from you all weekend."

Rachel nodded. "I was really tired. I slept a lot," she said dismissively, hugging her binders tightly to her chest as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. The two of them started walking toward Rachel's chemistry class. "How are you?"

Quinn bit her lip. "I was okay. I had an eventful weekend." Rachel looked at her friend with raised eyebrows as she waited for more information. "Puck had Matt and Mike over and they played with his little sister," she said, biting her lip to keep from smiling. "Knowing Mike, and knowing Joey, it was pretty entertaining."

A small smile formed on Rachel's lips. "That sounds fun," she said, waiting for more, but Quinn fell silent.

She could feel the story about Jesse showing up at Puck's how drunk dancing on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it until it was quiet. "What about you? How was your weekend?"

Rachel's eyes flew down to the ground for a moment before she said, "I stayed home. Nothing happened. My fathers visited my aunt, but that was all…"

"You didn't go see her?" Rachel shook her head. "Why not?"

"I was otherwise engaged."

"You spent the weekend in bed, didn't you?" she accused, planting on of her hands on her wide hip.

Rachel glared at her friend. "_No,_ I most certainly did _not_."

Quinn's eyebrow arched. "Then, what were you otherwise engaged with, Rach?"

They stared at each other for a long time, their eyes narrowing, until Rachel couldn't take it anymore and she caved in. "Okay, _fine_. I spent the weekend in bed. Is that such a problem?" she asked, hugging her arms tightly and kicking her argyle sock clad foot back and forth.

"No, not really. Unless you were in bed because of Jesse. Then we have a problem." Rachel looked down at the toes of her black flats. "You _did _stay in bed because of Jesse, didn't you?" Still, Rachel said nothing. "Come on, Rachel… What happened wasn't that bad."

_Yes, it was, _the voice inside her said. _You know it was bad. He showed up at your hose drunk. Tell her, tell her, TELL HER! _

"It wasn't just his visit and the horrendous trade off of our belongings. It was that it had gotten to the point where he felt the need to return anything that reminded him of me. That really means the relationship is over, doesn't it?"

Quinn shook her head. "Not true. You can always get back together with him. You never know." _You know. Tell her what happened, what Joey said, what Jesse said. Tell her! _

"Staying in bed seems more simple."

"I wish I could have stayed in bed all weekend."

"Why didn't you?"

Quinn averted eye contact for a moment, looking at the people walking by before she said, "Joey. We had to take care of her. Their mom still isn't back yet." _And Jesse showed up at your house drunk, you twit. Be a good friend. Tell Rachel what happened. _

Rachel nodded once. "Oh, that's good. That you were taking care of her, not that their mom isn't back yet."

"Yeah…" The warning bell ricocheted off the walls as it blared through the speakers in the school and the two girls looked at each other. "Well, time for another day of mediocre education," she said with a smile, giving Rachel a quick hug before trailing off to her first block class.

English class was always a nice class for Quinn. She liked English. Sometimes, she thought about being an English teacher. _"You'd make a good English teacher_," Puck would always say to her and it made her smile. But, today, she couldn't concentrate. She was thinking about the fight at breakfast. Now, it seemed to stupid. But, she had meant it. She did take care of Joey like she was her daughter while Puck lazed around on the couch and played video games. It annoyed her.

Taking out her phone, Quinn sent a quick message to Puck.

Her fingers shook for some reason as she typed, **I meant what I said at breakfast, but I'm sorry that it was said the way it was. I think we need to talk about how things have been at home… -Q **

She slid her phone closed and placed it in her lap, eyes glued to the board as she waited for a response.

**I think you and I both know we have a lot we need to talk about, babe… -Puck **

She didn't respond to that. Quinn knew they had a lot to talk about. They had had a lot to talk about for a few weeks, they both knew. Things at home were just one of them. Another was what they were going to do once the baby was born. Next, was what they were going to do with the baby, once she was born. Then, what they were going to do with themselves once that was done.

It made her stomach turn to think about those plans. Quinn didn't want to give up the baby, but she knew she couldn't take care of it. She still was a kid. She couldn't look after one, on top of Joey and Puck.

Quinn's stomach lurched. Her hand flew to her mouth and without even asking the teacher to leave, Quinn grabbed her bag and ran from the class to the girl's bathroom. She stood over the sink, breathing heavily it her reflection in the mirror.

"Too much, Fabray," she said to herself, splashing water on her face and attempting to steady her breaths. "Too much…"  
~*~

When Quinn got home that day, she found Puck sleeping on the couch with the game controllers and headsets on the ottoman and his arm hanging off the side of the couch. In the living room, Joey and Freddie were amongst the little girl's stuffed animals and blankets under a fort made of couch cushions, fast asleep like Puck.

Quinn smiled softly and rolled her eyes at the likeness of the siblings before she headed to the kitchen to start making dinner. She knew the kids would be hungry by 5:00, and since it was almost 4:00, she knew she had to get cracking. Tonight was taco night, and Joey only liked her tacos a certain way, loaded with tomatoes and lettuce and cheese, with a little bit of taco meat on the inside. Puck was the exact opposite, and Quinn knew Freddie was the exact same way, so she got to work.

Frying up the hamburger in a pan, Quinn started chopping tomatoes on the counter, humming to herself as she did so. She was so consumed with her humming and chopping that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her as Puck snuck up on her. His arms slipped around her waist and he rested his hands on her baby bump. Her back went rigid. She carefully set the knife down on the counter and wiped her hands on a dish towel as Puck whispered, "I'm sorry about this morning," into her ear.

"I was acting like a douche… I should help out more and I know that. I promise I will…" he said into her neck as he placed small kissed on her skin and traced soft circles on her belly, his hands slipping under the hem of her shirt to feel the warm skin on her stomach.

Quinn leaned back into his chest even though she was still mad at him. Her head rested on his shoulder while his lips sucked at the sensitive skin on her neck. She took a deep breath in when his teeth nipped at her earlobe and when she couldn't take it anymore, Quinn spun around and latched her arms around his neck, sealing the space between their lips hotly. With his hands gripping her ribcage, Puck lifted her onto the counter and pushed her against the cabinets behind her. She wound her legs around his waist, but he pulled his hips away,

"No," she protested, but he grinned and shook his head, his hands reaching down to undo the button of her jeans.

Quinn placed her hands on the counter and lifted her hips as he slowly pulled her jeans from her waist before situating her on the edge of the counter. Kissing down her stomach, Puck's hands gripped her hips tightly when she hooked her knees over his shoulders.

"Puck, we can't!" she stage whispered, her fingers clinging to the short hair on his Mohawk as he kissed up the soft skin on the inside of her thigh. "Your sister and her friend are in the next room. They're going to- Oh, my God," Quinn said, her head falling back heavily against the cabinets as Puck began moving his tongue around her.

He simply smiled into her and continued to assault her with his mouth, her hips pushing toward him as he reached her spots and his tongue working around her until he made her muscles tense and her hands grip his scalp tightly. Quinn had to bite her knuckles to keep silent.

When she went limp on the counter, Puck stood up and grinned at her. earning a look that was attempting to be angry, but really just looked like she wanted more. Puck leaned forward and kissed her deeply as she lifted her hips off the counter to try and resituate her jeans. She barely succeeded in doing so before his hand slipped into the waist of her panties. She squirmed when his finger slid in her and pressed against a spot that he had come to learn could curl her toes. He twisted his finger inside her, causing her to moan in such a high pitched tone, it was almost silent. Her toes curled against the cabinet and suddenly, there was a rustling in the other room. They both froze.

"Shit. Your sister," Quinn said, pushed him away from her and leapt off the counter, pulling her jeans over her hips and fastening the button. Puck cleared his throat and motioned to her hair, which she ran her fingers through a couple times to fix. "Act natural."

"How am I supposed to act natural when I've got a boner the size of Mount Everest?"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you started violating me," Quinn said with a smirk, sticking her tongue out at him when he made an uncomfortable face.

"I'll be in my room," he said just as the sleepy toddlers came waddling into the kitchen.

"What's wrong with Noah?" Joey asked, standing on her toes to pull the fridge open as Freddie pushed a step stool up to the door so she could grab two juice boxes from the shelf.

Quinn chuckled to herself. "Your brother isn't feeling very well," she said, cutting the rest of the vegetables and putting them into seperate bowls. "He just needs some alone time right now, so don't bother him, okay?"

Joey and Freddie nodded as Quinn set down all the necessities for the tacos. "Yummy!" the two of them said at the same time, fixing their dinner and creating a mess on the table.

"I'm gonna go check on your brother," she said, planting her hands on her hips and biting her lip. "You guys stay here, but leave some for us, okay?"

They ignored her and she took this chance to slip away to Puck's room, where he was sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. "It's not the same," he said when she shut the door behind her. "It doesn't feel right anymore..."

She furrowed her brow. "What doesn't feel the same?"

"Jacking off! It's not the same as when you do it." Quinn's hand slapped over her mouth as she tried to stiffle her giggles. "It's not funny!" he whined, his cheeks flushing red. "It's kind of a sentimental thing, when you think about it..."

Quinn pouted slightly, the corners of her lips turned into a smile as her bottom lip jutted out. "Aw, poor Puck," she said in a baby voice, walking over to him and running her fingers over his scalp. "That's so sweet." He turned his face into her palm and kissed it, inhaling the scent of her skin. "Here," Quinn offered, getting down on her knees and looking up at him through her long lashes. Her hands moved to unzip his jeans as she said, in a quiet voice, "Let me help you."

Puck's fingers tangled into her hair as she gave him a mischevious smile and did to him what he had previously done to her. "Oh, God bless you," Puck said, his other hand gripping tightly at his bed sheets. He felt her smile around him. "God bless you."

**That's right. I wrote some naughty things. SUE ME THAT I HAVE A DIRTY MIND! Okay. The end of this chapter. :) **


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! Did you forget about me!? **

Quinn could barely see the road through her tears as she gripped the steering wheel to her little, red car. She kept herself straight as best she could, nearly hitting a few mailboxes that she thought were far too close to the side of the road as she sped toward Rachel's house. Still in her pajamas, Quinn parked in the long driveway and grabbed the backpack from her passenger side seat, dashing up to the front door with her hand supporting her baby bump.

She took a deep breath and her hand reached out to ring the door bell. Counting to thirty in her head, Quinn rang the doorbell one more time before Rachel called, "Alright, I'm coming!"

The door flew open and she saw Rachel standing there, wrapped up in a blanket.

"Quinn," Rachel said in shock, staring at the disgruntled blonde that was sniffling on her stoop. "What's wrong?"

"I am done with him!" Quinn shrieked, causing a dog in the distance to bark. "Completely done!"

"Why don't you come inside and we'll talk?" Rachel said, holding the door open as Quinn stormed into the house and dropped her backpack down on the ground.

"What happened?" Rachel said, pausing a movie and turning to her friend.

Quinn rubbed her hands on her legs a few times as she took deep breaths. "We had just put Joey to sleep. Tonight was good, compared to this morning. We got into a fight about breakfast and-"

"I know, he told me," Rachel interrupted, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Alright. Well, tonight, we all sat down and had a nice dinner with Joey's little friend, Freddy, and we even got a little intimate with each other. Well, not a little. We-"

"Spare me the details, please."

"Point is, we put Joey to bed. Then, we're in the living room, watching a movie about this teenager with cancer who is a complete Debbie Downer about everything until she meets this guy. Surprise, right? Then, all of a sudden, he's talking about the baby again and he's driving me totally nuts!"

"How did the conversation go, exactly?"

Quinn took a deep breath.

_ "You want me to keep the baby?" Quinn shouted from across the room, grabbing a book and throwing it at him. _

"That's a slight over reaction," Rachel said, interrupting the story.

"Well, you'd have to be there to really understand the-"

"You shouldn't throw a book at him, regardless."

"Are you gonna keep interrupting me, or are you gonna let me tell the story?"

Rachel fell silent.

_ Puck fell to the floor, dodging the book as it hit the glass doors that lead out to the patio, nearly missing him as it landed on the rug. "Yes, I do." His head popped up from behind the couch, his arms resting on the back. "I think that I'd be a good dad, plus we're already living together and we're, like, dating, right?" Quinn glowered at him. "Keep the baby." _

_ She grabbed another book and hurled it at him with a high pitched scream. "Puck, I love this baby, you know that. But, being a mom at sixteen isn't exactly what girls my age dream about. And you say that we're living together, but how long is that going to last? Keeping the baby; it could tear us apart." _

_ Puck stood up, taking a few steps toward her. "And you don't want that?" _

_ "Of course not!" she said, throwing her arms up in the air. "Puck, I love you and if we keep it, then that love could turn into hate and soon I won't be able to stand you anymore. I'll turn into this haggy old mother who takes care of her baby while you're off doing girls with boob implants and tattoos on their lower backs because you can't stand the thought of sleeping with someone who is exhausted from taking care of a child and smells like baby powder." _

_ "Have you been talking to Mike lately?" _

_ She glared at him. "I just can't stand the thought of losing you…" _

_ Puck gathered the sobbing girl up in his arms and held her tightly. "You love me?" She nodded into his chest. "Then, if you really love me, you'll keep the baby." _

_ Quinn pulled away. "Puck, I can't just keep the baby because I love you. I'm thinking about you, you know I am, but I also have to think about me, whether or not keeping a baby is something I want." His head hung. "And you know something? I just told you I loved you and the only thing you say is 'Have you been talking to Mike lately?' You don't even say it back." _

_ Puck opened his mouth, ready to say it over a thousand times, but nothing came out. When he tried again, still nothing. Her chin wobbled. "And eye for an eye," she whispered, turning her back to him. "That's fine. Good bye, Puck." _

_ And then she was gone. _

"And then you were gone?"

Quinn looked at her friend, who was carrying two mugs of hot chocolate into the TV room. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

Rachel handed Quinn one of the mugs and sat back down. "I was just checking to make sure that's what you said." She blew at the steaming beverage and looked at Quinn, who appeared worn out and exhausted. "What do you think you're going to do?"

"I don't know!" Quinn shouted, almost spilling the hot chocolate onto her lap. She sucked a mini marshmallow from the cup. "I don't know whether to punch him because of his stupidity, or hug him for suffering with such brain damage."

Rachel giggled. "I think he's just trying to do what he thinks is best."

"I'm more pissed that he didn't say anything when I told him how I felt."

"He might not be ready for that yet." Quinn looked at Rachel with a limp face. "Come on, Quinn, he's Noah. I think the only thing he's ever said I love you to is his X-Box."

From upstairs, a voice suddenly called, "Ray, who is it?"

"It's Quinn."

"Quinn, how are you, dear?"

"_Furious!_" the teenager responded, tears spilling from her eyes.

There were footsteps on the stairs and suddenly, Rachel's fathers were standing in the TV room in their matching pajamas. They took one look at Quinn and Michael instantly said, "You can stay here as long as you need to. The couch, the guest room, Rachel's bed, gosh darn it, _our _bed, are all open to you."

Quinn smiled gratefully as Lyle stepped toward her. He placed his hand on the side of her face, his thumb running along her cheek softly.

"Whatever he did," Lyle said in a hushed tone, his eyes sincere, "he's not worth it."

Quinn's face pinched and she looked down at her lap, tears falling onto the ray fabric of her sweatpants. "He is, too, worth it."

"Why?" Lyle said, still quiet as he knelt down in an attempt to look at her.

"Because," she whispered, wiping her tears away and looking at the olive skinned man. "I love him."

An hour later, when the two hands on the clock were finally meeting up by the 12, Rachel and Quinn were snoring quietly on Rachel's bed. The house was calm as everyone slept soundly, and no one heard the creaking boards on the side of the house as a figure crept up the pillars to the balcony outside Rachel's window. Dressed in all black with a ski mask pulled over their head, the silhouette opened Rachel's window slowly and stepped inside the room.

One breath at a time, they tip-toed across the room. However, they did not get far before stepping on a dance shoe and crashing into the dresser. Rachel and Quinn jolted from their sleep, screaming at the top of their lungs and hugging themselves for protection.

"Curse the ninja Gods," the black figure said, standing up straight and advancing toward them.

"Please don't eat us!" Quinn hollered, grabbing two pencils off Rachel's nightstand and handing one to her friend. They pointed them at the figure.

"Eat you! Ha-ha! Oh, Blondie, that is the very least I will do."

Rachel jabbed the pencil with a troll doll on the top at him. "Just try to eat us," she threatened, stabbing the intruder once with her pencil.

He yelped and flapped his hands at her. "Stay away, fiend!"

"I could say the same thing to you, you lily-livered mannequin," Rachel retorted as she stabbed the pencil at him again.

The figure dodged out of the way, nearly crashing into the dresser. He snatched a book from the shelf near Rachel's bathroom and used it as a shield as he moved his way toward her. As the two people circled the room, Quinn scrambled across the bed and turned on the light. The lanky silhouette of the intruder was revealed and Quinn watched in utter confusion as a battle between her friend and the seeming ninja took place.

"You've entered this room far too many times," Rachel said, her eyes narrowing.

"Rach, what is going on."

"This swine," she said with a jab of her pencil, "has been intruding my personal space for days."

"Who is he?"

"You know me well, Quinn," the figure said in a voice that sounded far too familiar.

"And he won't get away with this!" Rachel shouted her arm shooting out to snatch her bottle of perfume of her dresser top.

The figures hands dropped his defense system as he held his arms up in surrender. "Ah. Shit. I can't compete with perfume. It'll make my asthma start to act up."

The lanky black figure reached up and pulled off the ski mask, running his hand over his spiky black hair a few times.

"Mike, this has to be the last time you break into my house!" Rachel warned, putting her pencil down and walking over to Quinn, who was still trembling from fright.

"But, it's so much fun!" Mike dragged out, dancing in his spot.

Rachel put her arm around Quinn. "It may be fun, but you scared the bajesus out of Quinn and you always do it at absurd hours of the night!"

Mike sits down on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry if I scared you, Quinn. I didn't know you were going to be here, and I had to sneak out of my own house to get over here, so I figured sneaking into yours was appropriate."

The brunette rolled her eyes with a smile, and Quinn nodded in thanks for his apology. "So. What _are _you doing here, Q?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," she said, scooting under the covers and resting her head on one of Rachel's many pillows.

She heard Mike mouth something to Rachel, but she ignored it and pretended to fall back asleep as the two of them left the room. Rachel shut the light of as she did, the door closing not long after. As soon as they were down stairs, Quinn's hand shot out and snatched her cell phone off the night stand.

The screen was blank.

"I hate you," she whispered through her tears that were starting to soak the pillow case. "I hate you but, please… Please call me…"

** Oooooookay, so that's another chapter done. I hope you liked it, and don't forget to check up on the new Total Eclipse of the Heart on my profile. Most of the chapters will be the same, but this one will continue to follow Quinn, while the other follows Rachel. **

**Don't forget to review! 3 **


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